


Loss of Life and Loss of Freedom

by kittyface27



Series: ASL and Whitebeard Pirates [9]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL, Angst, Blood, Brothers, Gen, Gore, Graphic deaths, Horror, Illness, PTSD, Rebirth, Temporary Character Death, asl fight back, asl on a crew with the spades, asl pov, beached, came back to life, dark story, emotionally, graphic illness, keeping huge secrets, kidnapping isnt the best answer, luffy is mentally fragile, marco is a jerk, reset, ship capsized, spades are the best, whitebeards are the bad guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:00:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 47,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27
Summary: Luffy, Ace and Sabo had been dealing with extreme health conditions for the last seven years after dying painful, separate deaths. They're finally free and making a name for themselves when they catch the eyes of a certain yonko crew. But when they're taken to be with them, it doesn't go well. Things only get exponentially worse under the stress of their loss of precious freedom. The freedom they're crawled out of the grave to attain. Now everything is going wrong. Can things ever get back to normal or have the Whitebeards ruined their lives?
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Series: ASL and Whitebeard Pirates [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684372
Comments: 53
Kudos: 188





	1. Origin

**A different take on how I write the Whitebeard pirates in this very graphic horror-ish story. After all, they did refuse to let Ace go when he wanted. It turned out fine for him in cannon, but you can't expect every case to be like that. So the Whitebeards besides Thatch are the bad guys this time.**

**A lot of bloody descriptions, mentions of PTSD, swearing. It's a dark story. It starts out graphic too. Anyways, enjoy~**

* * *

Sabo bled from his stomach, right in the middle. The blood soaked down his side and onto the plastic sheeting all three brothers were laying upon. A little bit of blood dribbled from his mouth, but nothing like Ace's hemorrhaging. It trickled just over his bottom lip as his eyes closed, unlike both of his brothers, who stared at nothing.

Ace coughed up blood as his mouth filled with it, blood also seeping out from his nose and eyes. It dripped out of his ears and puddled in his hair on the hardwood floor of the infirmary on the Spade's pirate ship. He shook as he bled before he became still, eyes open and unseeing as small droplets of blood still slipped down his face.

Luffy thrashed around, grabbing his neck and throat as his eyes grew red. He gasped for air, but none got to his lungs. Tears poured down his eyes as he drowned on land. Soon he became still as well, eyes open and hazy, though no blood had come.

All three were dead.

"Alright, let's get them cleaned up," Deuce said, the first mate of the brothers' pirate crew. They already had cleaning wipes and supplies, rags and towels. Luffy was clothed while the older two were both shirtless so they didn't ruin their clothes with the blood. Sabo's wound slowly healed while they avoided that area and wiped down the rest of it.

Deuce cleaned up Ace's face gently, dabbing the water on the bloody crevices in his face. The corners of his eyes were always the hardest to clean. He didn't clean the inside of his mouth, but the rest of his face and ears.

Once they were clean enough, three of the Spades carried one of them to their bedroom that they shared. They each had their own bed but all slept in the same, large bedroom. Deuce carried Ace, Aggie carried Sabo and Jojo carried Luffy. They tucked all three of them in, putting glasses of water on each of their nightstands for when they woke up.

They turned off the bedroom light and then left the room, keeping the door open just a crack.

-x-

Seven years ago, Sabo was stabbed in the stomach in Gray Terminal. He was just one second too late to dodged the knife. It cut straight into him, deep and in his gut. Ace had killed the offender quickly and attempted to pull Sabo back to the forest, Luffy running after, crying heavily, scared for Sabo.

They didn't make it to the treehouse before Sabo was unable to run anymore. There was a thick trail of blood leading through the woods, dripping down Sabo's front and legs. It was a lot of blood, and Ace knew there was no way they could save him. Luffy protested this logic, saying Sabo was too strong to die like this.

Five minutes later, Ace carried Sabo's bloody, limp body. His eyes were closed and blood was in his mouth. Ace did not cry, but Luffy could not stop. He wailed in despair and Ace didn't have the heart to scold him. They went to the river and cleaned Sabo up, trying not to look at the big and long gash along his stomach.

After that, they buried Sabo at the cliff they declared their dreams at not long ago. They were both devastated, Luffy emotional while Ace cut everyone off. He was mean to Luffy, and regretted it from the bottom of his heart later.

Ace died a year after Sabo, catching a disease that paralyzed him before his brain hemmoraged and he passed in a mess of blood. Luffy saw the whole thing, and something inside of him broke. He didn't eat, didn't sleep. Garp had to come and take care of him, force him to eat and be healthy. Luffy came to hate him for that.

The only remaining brother drowned after falling off of a marine ship, sinking down with his devil fruit. Garp was able to retrieve him, but by then, his soul was gone and all that was left was the empty body of the last of the three brothers. He was taken back to Dawn Island to be buried next to his beloved brothers. So, three graves were there for two years. Until they weren't graves anymore, but messes of churned up dirt.

All three brothers, the same night at the same moment, woke up in darkness, _suffocating_ darkness. Luffy was in the only coffin, while Ace and Sabo clawed their way through the ground like zombies, though they were perfectly intact. They didn't rot, didn't decompose. They were startled out of their shock when they saw a headstone for Luffy, and Ace heard faint screaming. Sabo and his older brother clawed their already muddy hands into the impacted ground, their nails bleeding by the time they reached the coffin and were able to break it and pull their baby brother out.

Sabo was devastated. "Both of you died?" he asked in a hoarse voice, tears in his eyes, trailing down his dirty cheeks. Ace looked down. All he remembered was being in pain but unable to move, seeing Luffy's teary face, and then darkness.

"I got sick with a disease. I died a year after you." Ace turned to Luffy and hugged him tightly, a strange show of affection to Sabo. "I'm so sorry, Luffy. I left you all alone," he said, feeling useless and guilty. Luffy hugged him back, but looked at his face in what could only be described as fear. "Luffy, what's wrong?"

Luffy burst into tears, the eight year old crying out about what he last saw of Ace. And both older brothers were horrified. Ace felt his face, searching for the blood Luffy said had seeped from every orifice. Sabo hugged him, as he clearly needed it. Luffy clutched his head instead of hugging back, and Ace and Sabo worried about what it had done to him. How he was still suffering from seeing Ace like that, and losing both of them.

"Lu, how did you die?" Ace asked quietly. Luffy looked down, and said he'd drowned.

"I was on grandpa's ship, but I fell in the water. Then I woke up in there," he said, pointing to the coffin. He wiped his eyes furiously, and for the first time ever, Ace walked over and pulled his hands away.

"It's okay to cry," he said kindly, something he'd never said before. He regretted abusing Luffy and then dying like that. He should have been a better brother, shown him love before he was all by himself. Instead, he gave him lasting damage from the sight of Ace bleeding to death. Sabo wiped his own tears away at the scene.

Luffy then asked the question all of them were thinking but hadn't said yet. "Why are we alive?" Ace and Sabo shrugged, not knowing how or why, but hoping to have a second chance to live again. None of their bodies had aged a day from when they'd died. None of them knew how long they'd been dead in the first place.

There was no one to ask. They decided not to return to the bandits or Foosha village. They knew Garp would come. He would no doubt be happy to see them, but they also had no doubt that the marines would try to figure out what happened to them, stealing away the freedom they had a second chance at.

The boys headed to the treehouse, the youngest holding both of their hands. The treehouse was not in bad shape, but it wasn't how it was before, moss had grown, and some planks were out of place. It would be easy enough to fix.

They worked day and night to fix their home, having gone hunting with new poles they picked up at gray terminal. It seemed to have been long enough that no one living there recognized the boys. They were probably dead. You don't always leave the gray terminal alive. Murders there were frequent, and never punished.

Once the treehouse was in good shape, they returned to it. Things started to get better, and they resumed their lives. The treasure was even still in the treasure tree! Everything was going perfectly until a nightmare occured.

Sabo was the first to show signs. He felt a terrible pain in his stomach, and thought he might have upset it until blood started to stain his shirt. He pulled the shirt up with shaking hands to see a long cut, which was bleeding badly. Blood dripped out of his mouth, and he coughed wetly, getting his brothers' attention.

"Sabo!" Ace screamed and ran over, Luffy not far behind. But then, Sabo screamed Ace's name as well, as he started bleeding from his face, just like Luffy had described. He tried wiping the blood away frantically, but there was a pounding in his head and things were getting darker. Then Luffy began to gasp uncontrollably, gripping at his throat in panic. He was gasping for air, but it didn't seem to be doing anything.

In a matter of minutes, they were all laying down on the treehouse floor, two of them bleeding out. They were dead again.

Four hours later, they rose again. And the cycle continued for their lives after that.

-x-

Sabo was always the one to wake up first, and sat up, his wound healed perfectly fine. He stood up easily, blood loss non-existent, and walked to the closet to put a top on and get dressed. He waited casually on his bed for his brothers to awaken. It was always him that came to first, probably since he died first.

The eighteen year old threw a shirt at his older brother when he sat up himself. He yawned and groaned. He was so sick of this. The only good thing was that over the past seven years, they'd gotten used to it. And for the last one, they'd had someone or someones to help them through it. Clean up their mess before they had to wake to it.

It saved the youngest from having a panic attack when he awoke. Luffy had PTSD from Ace's death. And it happened every two weeks. The fifteen year old was in the worst shape of all of them after waking up. Well, coming back to life. Since he always witnessed both of them dying their bloody deaths, always the last to succumb as he saw the bodies of his beloved brothers.

It was due to that that their crew members cleaned them up afterwards. Ace and Sabo had gotten used to it years ago, but Luffy still had not. Probably because he was the last to die, alone for too long after they both passed in painful ways. He blinked his big eyes, and looked at Ace. He smiled, and showed that there was no blood on his face. Luffy sighed in relief.

The three got dressed and put their shoes on to leave and thank their beloved crew for helping them. They entered the galley to see the six of them lounging around on the couch, Jojo cooking dinner.

"Morning, sunshines," Deuce teased. "How was your reset?"

"Same old, same old," Sabo replied, sitting on the comfortable chair across from the couch. They weren't the richest crew, so their furniture was old and damaged, but still comfortable. The ship had taken up much of the brothers pirate funds. They had enough to buy food, but were not able to splurge on non-necessities.

Everyone came from poor backgrounds, so none of them were really used to fancy things. Jojo had never lived in a house before she found her home on the Piece of Spadille, but they called it the PoS, even though that also meant "piece of shit". It was an inside joke between them, and sometimes they'd call her a piece of shit, even though she was a nice ship.

"Thanks for cleaning us up, again," Ace said, popping his neck before sitting on top of Sabo.

"Hey! It's my turn on the chair!" Sabo said angrily, shoving Ace off of him. They fought over the reclining chair, since they only had the one. Luffy laughed from the floor, sitting on his piece of carpet. They only had one,just for Luffy to use.

Aggie cut through their fighting, "You're welcome," he said loudly. Ace and Sabo continued to glare at each other.

Jojo said, "If you don't stop fighting I'm not making you any dessert," she called from the small kitchen. They had one table that fit all ten of them. A small but cozy crew. Ace and Sabo stopped fighting. They were the co-captains, but they couldn't cook so relied on Jojo to make them food. Luffy laughed at it again, sitting cross legged.

Ace sighed and finally gave up the seat and sat on the couch. Sabo smirked at him and very clearly relaxed into the chair, sinking into its fluffiness. Ace glared at him. Luffy changed the subject by asking when they would make it to the next island.

Saber was the navigator, and answered the youngest's question, even though he'd told everyone before. "We'll be arriving tomorrow if the weather allows us. The next island has a marine base."

"Yay!" Luffy exclaimed. They loved marine bases because they could beat everyone up. None of them still had a bounty because there was never any photographs taken. It was always Luffy's mission to find a den den camera to use and give them a picture to use. He was strong enough to be able to fight on his own, his devil fruit quite powerful now, in the ways he used it.

Ace had his own devil fruit, and was usually the one to light the marine bases on fire once everyone was done with their fun. The whole crew took part in the marine base massacres. Ace made sure everyone was far from it until he lit the fire. Then, they'd sail away, feeling satisfied and energized.

"Hopefully we can find a camera this time," Sabo commented. Ace and Luffy nodded in agreement. "We don't have bounties yet, even though we should. We've decimated six bases, shouldn't we be wanted by now?" He was almost pouting.

The rest of the crew agreed. They were barely recognized at all in the sea, even though they had made it to the New World already. They'd made it all the way through Paradise with no bounty or recognition. It was because they weren't spotted and the burning of the buildings left no survivors or witnesses. It was a win-win while also a loss.

"Don't worry, we'll get one soon," Luffy said optimistically. Deuce reached over the side of the couch and ruffled his hair. Luffy was always the extreme optimist of the ship. Always looking ahead, not getting too upset about things unless it was a PTSD related incident. Deuce was the doctor, and was always helping to heal Luffy's mental state.

It did not work well, as every two weeks, he saw Ace in the condition that had caused his mental illness in the first place. It was a tragedy that Luffy was always the last one to succumb. It was truly unfair to him, as he was the one who'd suffered most in life. After losing both brothers, he was all alone and then died alone. At least Ace and Sabo had died with the presence of a brother.

Luffy offered to play a game of cards, even though he failed miserably at it, and no one could deny him, so they played a game of BS. Sabo had the best poker face, so he was much better than his brothers. Luffy was incapable of lying and Ace easily grew angry at losing, scowling. Predictably, Luffy lost, and Mihar won.

Ace promptly fell backwards and started snoring. No one reacted, just stepping over him to get somewhere. Luffy drew a mustache on him, giggling, before hiding the pen he always kept in one of his pockets. Sabo looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Why do you risk his wrath?" he asked his younger brother.

Luffy shrugged, and Deuce said, "Don't worry, Ace's brother complex makes him unable to be angry at Lu for long periods of time." Luffy nodded to that excitedly. Sabo huffed. Ace did indeed have a brother complex. He couldn't resist anything Luffy wanted unless it was dangerous. And Luffy took advantage of that. He was a little devil sometimes, but they all loved him.

Dinner was served not much later, and the brothers scarfed everything down. They were always hungrier on a day after passing. They called it a reset day instead of a death day or anything insinuating dying. That was more negative and they didn't want that. It was already traumatizing, they didn't need the name to be bad, too.

The crew _hated_ eating with Luffy. Absolutely hated it, because he stole other peoples' food before he even finished his own. His brothers did not protest to stabbing his hands with forks, as they did that as well. But Luffy was quick. Sometimes it turned into brawls, usually Finamore would lose his temper and tackle Luffy to the floor. Then Ace would strike, being an asshole and taking the food Finamore had been protecting. It was a usual occurrence.

Jojo did make dessert that night, chocolate lava cakes. The Spades had a massive fridge, even if it barely fit in the kitchen, just for the brothers. They ate the food happily, with Luffy burning his tongue, like usual when they had hot desserts. There was no stopping him from doing it, so they ignored his nosies of burning.

Though it was a little gross when he'd spit out the hot food and wait for it to cool before eating it again. All in all, Luffy was not fun to eat with. But they adored him anyways.

The nights after the resets, they were always sleepier and slept in their clothes, passing out the minute they laid on their own beds, or Luffy sharing Ace's. Sabo wasn't offended that Luffy was more attached to Ace than he was to Sabo. Ace's death had been much harder on him since he had a brother to mourn with when Sabo died, even if Ace didn't do a good job being a nice big brother.

He was making up for it now, though. Well, for the last seven years he'd been making up for it. The room was filled with quiet and loud snores all night, the ship stationary with Saber on watch. The ship lightly swayed back and forth. It was always nice sleeping through the night and not having to deal with some storm or weird thing that broke the laws of physics. The New World was both awesome and _the worst._

-x-

Luffy woke first the next day and waited for Ace and Sabo to wake up before going to bathe in one of their two small bathrooms. He just had to make sure they woke up and then he could go. And Sabo woke first, and patiently waited with Luffy for Ace to wake. When both older brothers were awake, Luffy left to bathe.

It was something Luffy needed, to know his brothers wouldn't die in their sleep. It was sad, but Ace and Sabo did as he wished, and kept him company. "I wish he wouldn't do that," Ace said sadly.

"If he hasn't stopped by now, he's not going to anytime soon," Sabo replied, making his bed, the only one to do so. Ace sighed, and got dressed. They passed the bathroom that Luffy was bathing and went to the galley and sat down on the bench, waiting for the food to be done.

The others trickled in, and they ate quickly. They were arriving at the marine island today, and had to prepare. Luffy came in and scarfed down his food, hair wet and plastered to his face. "Today's gonna be fun. I promise I'll find a camera den den this time," he vowed, and the others nodded along. He said that every time, but none of them pointed that out.

Not much later, the co-captains and "first mate" were out on deck, steering the ship in the right direction the log pose was pointing. The one the were planning on going to out of the three. The ship had drifted a little to the west, but they fixed it easily.

They only called Luffy the first mate since he wasn't a co-captain when Deuce was more of the unofficial first mate. He was the first they had found and joined their crew back in the East Blue on that small ship they'd started out with. Now they had a much nicer one, but they'd always look back at Dinky with smiles.

They named it Dinky because of how small it was.

An hour after they woke up, the island came into view, a tiny speck on the horizon. Luffy was ansty, running up and down the yardarm, trying to get out pent up energy before getting there. Sabo was writing on the sign he'd be holding up for their bounty poster image. They already had planned what they would pose like. It would be the only photo of them, so the marines would be forced to use it.

The ship docked at the back of the island, far from the marine base, on the opposite side of the island. Everyone but Aggie 68 left, heading through the woods instead of through the town. Luffy swung from branch to branch above them as the others were silent of making quiet conversation.

When they arrived at the base, two hours later, they didn't look for the front door before Ace kicked open the nearest wall. An alarm started blaring already, the sound energizing the pirates as they all ran down different hallways to have their own fun. Sabo was using his pipe covered in haki while Ace and Luffy both used their devil fruits, and the others used their own weapons.

Out of all of them, Jojo was the most violent with her victims. Ace was a close second. Luffy punched through enemies as they came down his hall, shouting out his moves excitedly, looking in the rooms no one was in for a camera den den. He needed to find one already!

Loud crashes and booms could be heard throughout the base as the Spades did their worst, having a blast. Luffy was running down a long hall when there was an explosion from the floor with Sabo jumping up through it. He broke the ceiling, not wanting to wait to find stairs.

"Find one yet, Lu?" Sabo asked, both of them checking rooms. It was an obvious question, if Luffy had gotten it yet, then he still wouldn't be searching. But he didn't point this out and just said he hadn't.

More marines appeared, but they were running _from_ something. Then they stopped, cornered by Luffy and Sabo and Ducky Bree, who was covered in blood with his swords soaked in it as well. The marines had to choose who they wanted to risk, so of course they went for Sabo and Luffy, who easily dispatched them, slamming their heads against the walls, breaking the building apart.

Luffy entered a big room, and found a den den mushi on the desk that was there and _finally_ a camera one. "SABO! I found one!" Luffy shouted triumphantly and ran out of the room to find his brother knocking two marine's heads together extremely harshly.

Sabo turned around and beamed. Smoke started to fill the hallway coming from the stairs, and Sabo huffed. "That idiot is supposed to wait! Let's go!" Sabo said, and Luffy punched an exit through the nearest wall, jumping out of the smoking building and landing easily on the grass right outside the base.

They turned around to see the building was in shambles. Some of their crew were out, standing and watching or jumping out of gaps in the walls. Ace was last to come. They all glared at him. "It was an accident!" he defended.

Jojo raised her eyebrows. "You do this almost every time. It's not an accident, it's recklessness," she said sternly. Ace stuck his tongue out at her. "Did you get one, Lu?" Luffy beamed and held up the camera den den, earning cheers from the pirates.

Deuce held up the camera, the three brothers standing in front of the burning marine base, and took the photo that would be on a wanted poster soon enough. They went back to the ship ecstatic and excited for the next newspaper. They sailed off, in a great mood, as the marine base crumbled to nothing.

-x-

Marco picked up the newspaper that had been dropped by the newscoo and scanned the first page for anything important. Another marine base had been taken out. Burned and destroyed like the others. Someone was going and taking them out as they made it through the New World, since it was following a trail from island to island.

Whoever was doing this, really liked fire. Marco opened the paper fully to slide out the recent wanted posters. He sorted through them, seeing angry or cocky looking rookies with low bounties appearing in Paradise. When he got to the last poster, he couldn't help but laugh at the photo. He took it to show Pops in his chair.

"Look at this wanted poster. It's pretty funny," Marco said with a smile as he handed Pops the poster. The captain laughed as well. The photo was of three kids, all teenagers, standing in front of the burning marine base. But they were not looking like most wanted posters. They each had a pose.

One with freckles was holding a flaming middle finger at the camera, and they assumed he was the one to light the bases on fire. Next to him was a blonde wearing a fancy outfit, holding a sign that read, "Ace, Luffy, Sabo. Spade Pirates." They must have been irate that they hadn't gotten anything from the marine base attacks. The youngest one had his cheeks stretched out way too far to be natural. He also had his tongue out.

"These brats sure know how to make a first impression," Pops said in good humor. Marco left to go show Thatch and Haruta, who would no doubt enjoy the mocking and silly bounty poster. The three were clumped together instead of on separate posters. Considering how many marine bases they'd taken out, the bounty was only 300,000,000, very low for New World standards. It might just be because of their age. They were clearly all teenagers, two older ones and the stretchy kid who was obviously a couple years younger.

Marco found Thatch in the kitchen, cooking something that wasn't for breakfast since they'd just finished cleaning the leftovers up. "Hey! Outta the kitchen, bird brain!" Thatch scolded. Marco rolled his eyes. Thatch always got pissy when someone other than him entered his "safe space". "Whadya' want?"

Sitting at the bar counter, Marco held up the poster. "Got some pretty funny kids to show you," he said, and got Thatch's attention. He looked at the poster for about one second before busting up into laughter. "Apparently they're the ones who have been wiping out marine bases, by the looks of the background of this."

Thatch chuckled. "Too bad we can't assimilate them. They look like fun kids," he said, still shaking his head. Marco laughed and looked back at the poster. They definitely looked like they could enjoy a party. As long as the older one, Ace, didn't set them on fire with his fruit. Marco assumed it was a logia, and the younger one was a paramecia of some type, since it just wasn't possible for anyone _normal_ to have their face stretched to that point. It just wasn't possible.

They all looked very different. One had a polite smile on with a top hat and what looked like rich-people clothing, and the other older one, the fire logia, could not look more different. He had black hair, not blonde, and had a shit eating grin that most mocked you from the photo. Plus he was flipping the camera off. And the youngest had big eyes and a scar under his left eye, with messy black hair. He did not look like a pirate based on how young and dare-say, _cute,_ he was.

They seemed interesting, these "Ace, Sabo and Luffy"s. There were arrows on the paper pointing to them. The arrow named "Ace" was directly pointing at fire-freckles, which would now be Marco's nickname for him because, why not? The blonde was Sabo and the kid was Luffy. Didn't say any last names, and only helped the name of their crew with a messy drawing of their jolly roger.

When he showed Haruta, his reaction was much more acceptable. He laughed loudly and exclaimed that they should go and find them. Marco said, "Well, you could ask Pops." Haruta then ran from the room to find their father. Marco went to the intelligence headquarters, where Haruta ran things, and filed it in the large tub of wanted posters, separated by price. The highest was Pops', since Roger's bounty had been revoked with his death and now didn't mean much. The lowest was someone named Buggy the Clown. He still took pride that Pops' bounty was the highest out of the yonkos.

He'd keep an eye out for these kids. He wouldn't mind meeting them, seeing if they deserved that bounty.


	2. A Normal Day

**sousie: Thank you!**

#### Trying_To_Be_Happy: <3 

* * *

**Wow, a very short chapter. Enjoy~**

* * *

Luffy rocked back and forth in the corner of their bedroom, hands over his ears. Sabo was there trying to sooth him out of the flashback he was experiencing. Ace was out of the room because he was the one who accidentally set Luffy off. He bit on his tongue and it caused a little blood to be at the corner of his mouth.

The youngest was instantly seeing young Ace with blood seeping out of his face. Sabo took a risk and put his hand on Luffy's shoulder, but it caused him to scream. "Lu, shhhh, you're fine, Ace is fine," he said loudly, but Luffy wasn't having any of it. Then Ace came in and ran to him, kneeling in front of him.

"Luffy, look, I'm okay. I only bit my tongue, I'm fine," Ace said, putting his hands over Luffy's and gently pulling them away from over his ears. "I'm here, I'm fine. I'm alive and healthy. I won't ever leave you again, we're all okay." Luffy stopped screaming Ace tightly, fisting his hand in the back of Ace's shirt.

Sabo watched with sad eyes. For multiple reasons. The first was that Luffy was still suffering eight years after Ace's death. And the other… Ace really was the favorite. Sabo understood, Luffy had grown attached to Ace after Sabo's death and then Ace died himself, but it still hurt. He always chose Ace over him.

The blonde knew Luffy loved him, but he knew he'd always be second best to Ace. it hurt, but he never let it show. He didn't want Luffy to feel guilt. He may not even notice the favoritism. Ace did, and sent Sabo an apologetic look that was also twinged with pity. Sabo waited on the bed for Luffy to take all the comfort from Ace that Sabo couldn't give.

Sometimes he thought there was something wrong with him. He didn't know what, but maybe there was some other reason Luffy didn't choose him. Was it because the first day they woke up, came back to life, Ace was the one to provide immediate comfort, and not Sabo. Maybe if he had been the one to do it, he could be loved by Luffy as much as he loved Ace.

Luffy finally was calm, and looked humiliated. "I'm sorry," he apologized, tears of a new feeling in his eyes. Sabo was quick to comfort him, and put his hand on his head, putting pressure on it. Luffy like that, it grounded him.

"No one looks down on you because of your PTSD," Sabo said strongly. Ace nodded in agreement, and pressed the strawhat on Luffy's head from the table. Luffy raised his hands to the hat and breathed out slowly. The hat had been nailed to his headstone when he was buried, so it was there for him when he came back. But he didn't wear it out in public. He was afraid to lose it.

The youngest didn't know it, but all of the crew was looking for any sign that Shanks was around. Luffy had wanted to see him more than Garp, who now knew for sure that his grandsons were alive. That picture and the names were pretty clear that they were both alive and kicking, strongly. Kicking against the marines and world government.

Even after all three of them had died, they still became pirates. It was almost funny, but also sad. Though them being known to be dead so long made sure they were never beaten by Garp, who had no one to visit. He didn't even visit their graves. Maybe he did before they woke up, but never had he arrived in the seven years after their resurrections.

It had been over a week since their bounties were sent out, and their bump of happiness was still going steady, but was starting to show the usual signs of fizzling. Since the reset was almost exactly every two weeks, much of that time was negative, the couple days leading up to the brothers incident.

The thing that kept them all going strong was the complete support they were given by the others in their crew. They helped to comfort them, clean up their bodies, be kind and caring afterward, help Luffy not look at Ace when he was dead and Luffy started suffocating.

It had been over a year and their crew still were supportive and not judgmental. They didn't look at the three like they were freaks. Didn't look at them like their existence was wrong. They were just happy that the deaths were not permanent. Happy their captains and first mate were alive and would stay alive.

It was a real family on the ship. They embraced oen another and formed a blanket of strong support for one another, including the brothers towards the others. It didn't go just one way. All of their crew members had pasts that weren't too good, and they all knew them well enough to know when to do something. Tells that showed anxiety or stress. They were probably closer than many biological families were. Though the brothers had never put much in blood ties.

Dinner was a bit subdued because Luffy was not in a good mood, and picked at his food. Everyone shot up and ran outside when they felt a mass of presences coming towards their ship. It was foggy, so it was hard to see the ship before it was right on top of them. It was bigger than the PoS by far and there were many more people on this ship.

Swords were out and guns pointing at the pirate before Luffy saw the jolly roger and beamed. "Don't, stop, it's Shanks! Shanks is here!" Luffy shouted, jumping up and down. The weapons were lowered, and Ace and Sabo were grinning. When they all set out, Luffy had said one of his goals as a pirate was to find Shanks. Not give him his hat back, but to see him.

A plank was attached to both ships, and everyone but Luffy was nervous. Beckman came down, then with Lucky Roo and Yassop. Then Shanks came, running down the ramp and stopping in front of Luffy. The teen was beaming and was surprised when Shanks hugged him. Ace glared, brother complex kicking in, but Sabo grabbed his arm and shook his head. The steam that was coming off of him evaporated.

"Luffy, how are you alive? Garp said both you and Ace had died," Shanks said, in confusion but with a bright smile on his face.

"Um, it's hard to explain," Luffy replied. He looked to Ace and Sabo for permission to tell them the truth, what happened to them and what continues to happen to them. Sabo gave a nod, while Ace looked uneasy.

"Ace, Shanks saved Luffy's life, he deserves to know the truth," Sabo said quietly, and Ace nodded, knowing Sabo was right.

Deuce said, "Why don't we go inside? It's cold out here." The officers and captain of the Red Hair pirates followed them inside, through their cozy ship and into the galley. The crew sat in various places around the room or at the table. Luffy sat on his patch of carpet. The guest pirates sat on the main couch.

Luffy started explaining immediately after everyone was settled. "So, I died, and Ace and Sabo died. But then we woke up! And now we die again a lot, all the time." Sabo and Ace both put their hands to their faces. They knew one of them would be doing the explaining from the start. Shanks was smiling at Luffy fondly, clearly happy the boy was alive, however it had happened.

Sabo decided to speak, to explain. "I died, then Ace died and then Luffy died. It was over a year after Luffy died that we woke up. Ace and I were able to get out of the ground and then pull Luffy out. But we still have strong and negative consequences for whatever happened, no matter how grateful we are for it.

"Every two weeks on the dime, we all die in the same way we originally died. I die first, then both of them with Luffy last. We wake up a couple hours later, just fine. Our crew cleans us up while we're out." Shanks looked confused, so Sabo added, "We didn't all die in a… _clean_ way."

The pirates understood what Sabo meant. They didn't ask too many questions about that subject, but then Shanks asked Luffy to tell him all about what being a pirate was like. Luffy spoke very animatedly, arms flailing around when he talked excitedly. Shanks was grinning widely the whole time. He was clearly so happy Luffy was alive.

It was probably the best night Luffy had had in a long time, and the pirates drank heavily with Shanks. "I was savin' this sake for someone else, but I think this deserves some pretty tasty booze." And he toasted the lives of the three anomalies in front of him. Luffy grinned and drank some. They were pirates, and Luffy didn't drink much anyway. He didn't like the taste but never wanted to be left out.

The party was loud and fun, the yonko crew celebrating Luffy being alive. They thought he was dead for a long time. Luffy clung onto Shanks back, something that surprised the pirates. Sabo said, "After everything, Luffy is a lot more clingy. Don't let it bother you."

Shanks shook his head and said, "I don't mind. I'm just happy he's alive. Have you told Garp?" he asked as Luffy jumped off and ran to cling to Ace. Sabo hid the hurt expertly, and no one saw it.

They shook their heads. "Gramps would probably send us to some lab to see what made us come back and stay back. We lost our chance at freedom once, we won't be giving it up a second time," Ace replied, ruffling his brother's hair fondly.

"Well, everyone knows we're alive now. Grandpa must have seen our cool bounty poster. I don't really want to see him. He was mean after Ace died and I was all alone," Luffy said in a grumpy voice. Sabo and Ace shared a sad look. Garp hadn't been mean by forcing Luffy to eat and drink. He had been trying to keep his only remaining grandson alive and well.

Shanks smiled. "I'm sure he's happy you're both alive. As am I. Your bounty poster was the best thing I've seen in years, Luffy. I'm glad you're alive and living out your dream." Luffy took his hat and held it to his chest.

"I'm not the pirate king yet, so can I keep the hat a little longer?" he asked, voice tinged with worry. Just a little, but it was definitely there. Shanks grinned and nodded, then bursting into laughter, which echoed around the ship. It was a nice night, full of happiness and celebration. It was probably one of the best nights the Spades had had in awhile.

To Luffy's dismay, they left the next morning after sharing a breakfast on the Red Force's deck. "I promise we'll keep in touch. Don't do something reckless, anchor, stay safe with your brothers," Shanks said with a grin. Luffy smiled and nodded happily. He was holding onto the straw hat tightly as he watched Shanks and his crew sail away for the second time in almost a decade. Ace and Sabo waved with him as Aggie started cleaning the deck up. Sabo turned around and helped his crew member take the lounge furniture back inside to the storage area.

The youngest watched the Red Force until it was not visible anymore. He had a soft smile on, looking at the endless ocean in front of him. Ace put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair and turned away to go inside. He was hungry, and they had to clean up the galley from the party last night. It wasn't too messy, but it needed to be cleaned nonetheless. Sabo was helping Jojo with the dishes, drying them after she washed.

Luffy was in a glowing mood all day, and didn't have a single depressive bout. It was something to celebrate in and of itself. A happy Luffy made for a happy crew.

-x-

"Why is there so little, red hair brat?" Whitebeard asked when he held the nearly empty bottle of sake. Shanks usually brought tons of alcohol, but this time there was barely any left. Shanks laughed, and Marco thought he was awfully happy for this meeting. And it was strange, about the sake.

Shanks laughed. "I sort of had an impromptu reunion," he replied. Whatever the reunion had been, it must have been a good one based on Shanks demeanor. Pops drank all of the sake in one gulp, Shanks not having any.

Whitebeard then asked about the reunion. Shanks grinned. "A rookie I thought was dead isn't. That has a need for celebration, don't you think?" Marco wondered which rookie, and briefly wondered if it was any of the kids they'd been looking and listening for. The captain nodded. That was indeed a need for celebration.

"How'd you think they'd died?" Pops wondered. Shanks grinned and said it was a secret. The larger yonko barked out a "you damn brat", but there was no heat in it.

-x-

Ace was in the shower when it happened. He was sure it wasn't due for another hour. His legs started to shake and he made his way out of the shower, ripping the curtain off of its bar. He had the displeasure at seeing himself in the mirror. Saw the blood seeping from his face. It was always a very unwanted sight, which was why he and his brothers usually passed in a dark room together.

Ace could see the blood coloring the whites of his eyes as it spread, leaking out of his nose into his already bloody mouth. He didn't last long until he hit the tile hard and stayed down, dead with his eyes open and unseeing.

While he was out, Deuce had entered and dressed Ace before cleaning his face and neck. The doctor sighed, closing his eyes. It had always been hard for him, seeing Ace like that. Ace and he had clicked in the beginning, so it was like an unspoken rule that Deuce was there for Ace, meaning he had to clean up the captain.

The blue haired man picked Ace up and carried his lifeless body back to his bedroom, where Luffy and Sabo were already on their beds. Deuce walked to Luffy and gently closed his eyes for him before tucking them all in. His dead captains and first mate. They'd wake up and probably sleep until morning came. Deuce left the room silently, even though no noise would have stirred them.

When he went back to the galley, everyone else were sitting silently, staring at the floor or their hands. Deuce sat on the recliner with a heavy, tired sigh. "How was Luffy?" he asked, since Ace hadn't been with him when it happened.

Saber replied, "He had a panic attack in the middle of his dying. It was really sad, but we couldn't calm him down before he was gone. Sabo was okay, mostly trying to comfort Luffy. It'll be hard for him in the morning."

The crew stayed quiet for a long time, before Finamore said, "I'm tired of this. But I'd never leave them for it." The others nodded, knowing what he meant. They cared too much about the three to leave them, but it was hard nonetheless. Going through this twice a month. If they each died painlessly and not messy, it'd be so much easier than seeing Sabo bleeding out, and Ace's gruesome death which looked like the most painful of the three. Since Ace became paralyzed and then bled out.

"I think we should go to bed. Who's on watch tonight?" the blue haired man asked. Jojo raised her hand. They each got up and headed to the shared room. Jojo had her own, though it was small compared to the boys' room. It was always hard to fall asleep on the death days, knowing their leaders were not able to do anything. It wasn't that the crew couldn't guard and protect the ship, just that they knew all three felt guilt for being out of action.

More than once, a pirate crew had attacked while they were unable to help. Every time the crew handled it perfectly fine on their own, but the brothers still didn't like it when that happened.


	3. Beached and Vulnerable

**chickie434: Things will get much worse before they might get better. Mwahahaha.**

* * *

**The very beginning of the time with the Whitebeards! How will it end up going, though? Hmm.**

* * *

Luffy sat on Ace's shoulders in the crowsnest, standing and looking at the endless horizon. Luffy had complained that he never got to feel the wind on all of him. Ace knew he would be fine if he fell from the crowsnest since he was rubber, and he'd fallen from higher places, the little idiot. Ace held onto his legs tightly while the youngest had his arms out like he was flying. It had been nine days since the reset, and they were all feeling great. There was a part in between the dates where they felt energized more than usual.

"If you fall I'm never doing this for you again," Ace said as he felt a small wobble. Luffy then grabbed onto his head tightly, making Ace make an "oof" noise. He scowled, but it didn't hurt, so he didn't complain aloud.

Sabo's head popped up and asked them if they wanted sandwiches or soup for lunch. Luffy said soup while Ace said sandwiches at the same time. Sabo laughed when the two narrowed their eyes at each other. "How about sandwiches for lunch and then he can have soup for dinner?"

The blonde was always the one to break up an argument, small though they were, or the best at keeping them from escalating. The two black haired brothers nodded, thinking that was a good idea, and then went back to what they'd been doing before.

"The sea is pretty," Luffy said, breaking the silence. Ace chuckled.

"Just now noticed that?" he teased.

"No! I was just saying," he grumbled, and Ace laughed again. He crouched for Luffy to get off and announced he had to take a piss, and jumped from the crowsnest and landed lightly on the deck. Being a logia really had its perks. He wished Sabo could have a devil fruit, too. Well, he was the one to drag them out of the water if they fell in. But now they had more people to do that for them.

Luffy jumped down, too, no longer with Ace so no reason to stay up there. It was boring being alone. So he went to find Sabo, who he found in the office. It was a second storage room that had been converted to an office with three seats at a big desk. There were also books stacked in the corner, most of them belonging to Sabo.

"Whatcha' doin?" Luffy wondered, looking over his brother's shoulder.

"Taking notes about last time. I seemed to go faster than usual," Sabo said conversationally. "I'm hoping all of us will have it go faster so we're not in pain for over a minute straight." Luffy was interested, not that he'd noticed any slow down of his own dying. He didn't look at Ace even though they held hands. Ace always had Sabo's hand in his. His was the most painful, so he needed comfort from both of them most.

Ace walked into the room as well, sensing both of them in there. "What's up?" he asked, and Sabo told him what he'd told Luffy moments ago. "I didn't notice anything different. But I was not in the bedroom at the time, I tried to get out of the shower as fast as I could." Luffy frowned. Not having Ace there when they were resetting had been terrible, but he couldn't go and look for Ace as he suffocated. Sabo had died before him and Luffy outside their bedroom door.

"I'm sorry, Lu. It won't happen again," Ace said, basically reading Luffy's mind. Luffy nodded and hugged Ace's arm. Where his tattoo was. All three of them had tattoos, but Ace's was the only one that showed to the world. It was on his arm while Luffy's was on his back and Sabo's covered by his desired clothing. He wore such fancy clothes while Ace only ever wore shorts and boots. Luffy was more modest and plain. A red, button down tank top and some shorts and flip flops. Plus the hat. Couldn't ever forget his straw hat.

The three went to lunch, which was sandwiches, like the oldest and youngest brothers had compromised. Everyone was already sitting and eating, talking about random, upbeat topics. When the conversation had a lull in it, Saber said, "There was a letter dropped off just now. You guys weren't out on deck so I picked it up. Here," he said, and handed Sabo the letter.

He opened it at the table, and read it with wide eyes. He looked up at Luffy and Ace, who were sitting across from them. "What? What is it?" Ace asked, voice showing a tinge of worry.

"Garp sent us a letter," Sabo said in a shocked voice.

"Grandpa?!" Luffy exclaimed, and Sabo nodded. He started to read it aloud, even with everyone else there to listen. It wasn't like they'd be learning anything new from it. They knew Garp's relationship to the brothers and they knew the secret they had been keeping from the vice-admiral.

" _Dear grandsons, I am overjoyed that you are all alive, though I have no idea how it is possible. I know all three of you were dead and buried, but I couldn't be happier that you are alive. Even though you are all pirates now, wreaking havoc on marines in the New World, I can't bring myself to be angry. I am too happy that you three got a second chance at life. Enjoy it. I know as a marine myself, I cannot let anyone else know about my opinion. Better not die again or I will be very angry._

_Stay relatively safe and well._

_\- Grandpa/ shitty gramps/ Garp._ "

Ace was looking a little teary, and Luffy no longer looked angry. Sabo smiled and folded the paper up again, sliding it back into the envelope. "I wasn't expecting this. Thought he'd go on a rampage about us making a mess of things," he said with a happy tone.

Luffy and Ace nodded, Luffy wiping his eyes. He still thought Garp had been mean to him for making him eat and sleep. He didn't know it at the time, but Luffy hadn't cared about dying. He'd lost his brothers and his freedom completely. He suffered from panic attacks and overwhelming grief. He shook his head, not wanting to think of that time.

Ace put his hand on Luffy's head, who visibly relaxed. Sabo smiled softly at Luffy, who smiled back. They went back to eating like they hadn't gotten the letter, though the mood was lighter now for everyone. The brothers were happy, so the rest were happy as well. They cleaned up lunch afterwards, and they all decided to spar for fun.

The weather was nice, windy and taking the ship to the next island quickly, but there wasn't a storm in sight. Ace was always careful when sparring with his powers, while Luffy just went all out. Sabo didn't hold back either, ruthlessly using his pipe covered in haki. He beat the shit out of Luffy, Ace beat the shit out of Sabo, and Luffy got up and beat the shit out of Ace.

By the end, all three were bruised, and Sabo had a bloody nose. But they weren't angry at one another, just glad they were strong enough to be equals. When they were kids, Luffy was always left behind in the category as fighting and strength. It was mostly after they resurrected that he really got better.

He said it was because he knew he couldn't lose them again. And he would do his best to protect them when they couldn't do it themselves. Before his death, Ace probably would have been offended and hit him. But that time he smiled. Sabo had been baffled by the change. His death had given the oldest perspective. And it made him a nicer person. Sabo and Luffy enjoyed nice-Ace.

-x-

"We've done all we can! Get inside!" Ace screamed over the storm and waves soaking the deck. The Spades sprinted inside, some slipping and sliding on the deck. Luffy was picked up by Sabo and they rushed inside. A sudden, extremely violent storm had come out of nowhere, accompanied by water spots throwing the ship around. They managed to furl the sails, but it was no longer safe to be outside.

When the ship started to tilt, Luffy wrapped his arms around all ten of them, tightly like a rope, and ran into the smallest nearby room. The ship threw them around, but it didn't do as much damage with them all squished together.

There was a huge punching sound on the port side of the ship, which knocked the ship exactly to the other side, slamming the pirates into the door that was - thankfully - closed. But then, they ended up on the ceiling. The ship had capsized completely. They were utterly screwed.

The boat continued to slosh back and forth before it suddenly turned back over, all of them threw back to the floor or walls, all of them but Luffy hit their heads and were knocked out. He didn't know what to do, and had a panic attack with no one to sooth him.

Ace was the first to wake, and shook everyone else awake. They were resting on the wall, all of them having bruises but no broken limbs, thankfully. Sabo woke and then helped rouse the rest of them. The ship was not moving, and on its side, meaning they had washed up on an island. Well, it was better than being capsized in a storm.

Luffy went out first, Ace following after him closely, not wanting him to be in danger. They climbed up to get through the door, which was sideways and halfway up the "wall". They were on a sunny beach, meaning it was day time and the storm was long gone.

They both slid down the deck to the ground and looked at the damage. The mast was still intact, but the sails had tears in them despite having been furled. There were planks missing from the side of the ship, but not deep enough to cause it to flood. Overall, it was in good condition considering.

The others came out, Sabo thinking to lower the rope ladder from one side of the ship, which was now the top, so they could get back up. The Spades all looked at the ship. "So, who wants to fix it?" Deuce asked with a heavy sigh. They didn't have a shipwright. They took care of the ship, but they needed someone professional to fix it up. And they didn't know how they'd turn it back upright and off of the beach. There were only ten of them. They were strong, but didn't want to risk damaging the ship.

Luffy started freaking out. His hat wasn't there. Sabo tried to calm him as Ace climbed the ladder to go inside and find the hat. He came out not long after and held up the straw hat. Luffy calmed at the sight with a smile when it was given to him. He plopped it down on his head. Sabo's hat was gone as well, but it didn't have any sentimental meaning to him like Luffy's did.

"How the hell do we push it over?" Jojo questioned. Her hand kept going to her belt. None of them had their weapons besides Sabo, whose weapon was always strapped to his back. The others were all relatively fine with hand to hand, but many of them used swords. Only one used a gun, which was Ducky Bree.

Most of the pirates shrugged, having no idea how. "Maybe we can chop down some trees and use the trunks to help get it back upright. It's impossible to push it with bare hands. And if Luffy punched it head on, it'd probably break," Sabo explained. The Spades nodded in agreement.

Ace scratched his head and said, "We could see if this island has any city. Maybe they have some shipwrights we can borrow. But even if they don't have it, more hands pushing might help a lot. We should all go, I doubt anyone will steal a ship on it's side. Besides, the treasure won't be found."

They all knew that was true. There was a piece of wall that had grown weak and they could open it up. They had the treasure in bags, stuffed in the wall. It had been a hiding place for Lufy for a while until his growth spurt, even though he was still short. Those who used weapons, however, went back inside to get them, just in case they needed them.

The Spades set out quickly, walking through the foliage to go in a straight path. There were not many animals in the forest besides many birds. They came across no predators, which was lucky for now. They wanted to get this done as soon as possible, they didn't have time to fight off animals.

No one knew what island this was. The ship did not follow the log pose automatically, so they could be on any island. Probably not too far from their set course, but a mystery island nonetheless, as Luffy would say. They finally came out to a clearing that led to a small village. They could see immediately this was not an island with a place like the shipyard from Water 7.

When they entered the town, people saw them and their weapons, and started to get worried. Sabo, ever the gentleman, walked up to the nearest woman and said, "Excuse me, miss, but do you know of any shipwrights on this island? Our ship has been beached and we won't be able to fix it up or get it back to the sea on our own. There are only ten of us." He said that on purpose. They might not fear them too much if the villagers knew there weren't many of them.

"No, we-we don't have any shipwrights. I'm sorry," she said fearfully.

"That's too bad. Thank you for the information," and he bowed respectfully. It surprised the woman, who just nodded back. Sabo walked back to his family, who were sitting on stone benches in what looked like a plaze. They all looked pretty down. "They don't have major shipwrights here."

Ace pointed up at a pole. Sabo looked up and saw what had all of them upset. This was a protected island under Whitebeard. Most pirate crews avoid his islands. If you scare the villagers, then the yonko crew would come. "We're screwed if we make a bad impression," Ace said with a heavy sigh. "Why don't we go back to the ship, if there's no one here who can help us. We'll try the log attempt."

The group stood up and trudged back through the forest to their beached ship.

-x-

"Pops, they're beached on one of our islands," Marco said, smiling. "One that's actually pretty near to us."

Thatch celebrated when he heard this. "Let's go get them! I wanna meet them!" Pops laughed and asked Marco if they were causing trouble. He shook his head.

"Well, then, let's go meet them. They're joining our family."

-x-

Three days after they landed, they had all of the poles they needed, and pressed them against the ship's side that was on its side, with ropes attached to the railing in the shallow water. Five would push and five would pull. Luffy and Ace would be pushing since they couldn't be in the water, while three others were with them and Sabo was on the other side.

"One, two, three!" Sabo shouted loud enough for those on land to hear. The pirates pushed and pulled as hard as they could. The ship budged an inch before some of the poles splintered and broke.

"God damn it!" Ace shouted, erupting into angry flames. He kicked one of the broken poles across the beach and into a rock, breaking it apart. "We're gonna be fucking stuck here forever!" Luffy watched nervously, hating when Ace was angry. Sabo, feet and pants wet, walked over and shouted at Ace to calm down.

The blonde captain said, "Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere," he scolded. He put his boots on, dusting the sand off of his feet. They were all dirty and probably smelly. They hadn't been able to shower on the ship due to it being on it's side.

Ace scowled. "Sorry for not wanting to _die_ on a beach where _anyone could see_!" Ace said back, still heatedly. "You know how vulnerable we'd be? And what about the Whitebeards? I bet the villagers called them the moment they saw us."

Sabo couldn't argue this because Ace had some valid points. The day was coming up. They didn't know how long they'd been unconscious on the ship while it made its way to this island. It could be tonight that it happened or the next day. Nine days, plus the three they were on the island for, plus whatever time they'd lost. Stupid storm messed everything up. "We'll go on the ship for that. It won't be comfortable but no one will see us." The Spades nodded, pitching in that the wall was the floor now, but it was still the floor, and the ship was steady. It was stuck in the sand and wouldn't be going anywhere by itself.

Ace slowly calmed down and then pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing through his nose. Luffy went over and hugged his arm. The older looked down at Luffy's worried face and he felt guilt. "Sorry, Lu. I didn't mean to get so mad, I'm just worried and frustrated."

"We all are," Jojo said, sitting on one of the logs that had broken. "Don't worry about being vulnerable. We will protect you guys like you protect us. It goes both ways. You three don't always need to be the knights in white. You recruited us, and we've survived the New World. Have some faith in us, idiot."

Luffy said, "But aren't yonkos strong? What if they come when we're dead?" No one had the answer, so it was quiet for a moment before Sabo tried to remedy the situation before Luffy freaked out.

He said, "If we are peaceful, then they shouldn't harm us. We haven't done any damage to the citizens of the island. We've stayed here mostly. Whitebeard is supposed to be like Shanks, reasonable. Why would he try and kill us when we've done nothing? That wouldn't make sense." A few of the others looked relieved at this, but not Ace or Deuce.

"Still, we're pirates on one of their protected islands. And we're not exactly saints, we destroy marine bases and then leave them on fire. That's all the world knows of us. That we're young and like to cause chaos and destruction," Deuce grumbled and glared at Ace. Ace bristled under the look. All of the Spades were older than the brothers, some by only a few years and others decades.

Ace huffed and looked away, crossing his arms like a child. "We shouldn't be afraid but prepared. We trust you guys to do your best for us." They all knew he was saying they were not likely to match up if the yonko crew came and acted against them in any way. And none of them took offense at this because they knew it was true as well.

After another eight hours of trying to get the ship back in the water so they could at least _attempt_ to flee, they finally gave up and had food. It was around a campfire Ace had started, and they'd gone hunting. The fridge had been opened when the ship capsized and all of the meat had gone bad while they were unconscious. So they caught their food. Mostly deer.

"We need to get situated. I'm starting to feel dizzy," Ace said, and the three got up to go inside and get ready. The fire was doused with sand as the rest followed them up. Mihar was going to stay outside, sitting on the railing that was now the flat and highest point on the ship. The three went to their room, which had a strong door and lock. Just in case.

They all got on the floor, Ace and Sabo taking their shirts off to not stain them. Deuce and Finamore stayed in as those who weren't on watch got to work trying to get the cannon in place to fire if necessary.

After they had all died, in the usual order and way, Deuce did his duty and cleaned up the two older co-captains. Blood was splattered in the ground below Ace. it had been a particularly bad reset for him. Instead of it just coming up his throat a little bit, he was choking on it before Deuce had rolled him over gently but quickly. He had been unable to support himself so Deuce held his shoulders up so his face wasn't pressed into the wood.

He died in Deuce's hold, and the unofficial first mate moved him to the side of the puddle of blood. Luffy had seen the whole thing, and would no doubt not have fun waking up. Deuce had tried to get the youngest to look away, but he couldn't. Then he suffocated and was dead as well. Like usual, he had his eyes open and the man closed them.

He left the room, but sat outside the door, multiple spare guns and swords around in case his brute strength was not enough. They would protect their captains and their brother.

-x-

Sabo woke up first, shirtless and cold, on a soft surface. It took him all of two seconds before he realized they were nowhere on the Piece of Shit. He looked to the side and saw Ace and Luffy on their own beds in this white room. This was an infirmary. Maybe they were taken to a hospital on the island? He sat up and hurried to his brothers and shook them awake. "Ace, Ace wake up," he said in a hush. Ace was going to swat him away but he noticed his surroundings as well. Sabo ran to Luffy and shook him awake as well, and Luffy was about to have a panic attack about Ace's worse-than-usual reset, before Sabo put his hand over his mouth.

"You have to be quiet, okay?" Luffy saw the desperation in Sabo's eyes and nodded, clamping his mouth shut even as last night flitted behind his eyelids. Ace got up and walked to the two. All three were barefoot and Ace and Sabo still shirtless, though no blood was on them. Just the scar that reopened every two weeks over his stomach.

They realized, once they were all awake, that they were on a ship with _way_ too many people. And they couldn't sense their crew. Not a single member. The three were very, very concerned and worried. But they had to be smart right now.

Sabo walked to the infirmary doors, keeping low, and took a crutch he found and slid it into the handles so that it wouldn't be able to break. Now they had to find another way out. Luffy was in the corner as Ace went into another door slowly, silently. When he saw two women sitting at desks, he walked behind them and delivered a hard blow to the back of the neck knocking them out.

He took IV cords and tied them around their wrists and ankles, putting gags in their mouths. They were lucky he didn't do worse. He left the room and looked for any way out besides the double doors. There was none, so they'd have to make their own. Luffy and Sabo came when Ace waved them over silently. They knew they wouldn't win an all out fight, so the best plan was to escape off the ship.

"Find a wall with not many people behind it," Ace said quietly. And Sabo did, closing his eyes, before he pointed to the far right side of the room. They hurried over and Ace used very strictly controlled fire to burn a hole in the wall without causing any big fires in the room that would attract attention. Once there was hole big enough, all three crawled through it, Sabo moving a gurney in front of the hole.

They continued to find the places where no one was, and burned a path through the ship. They knew for sure it was a ship now based on the movement. They worried they were out at sea and nowhere near the island or the PoS. It was like a maze as they moved through the small holes. They eventually discovered a gap in the walls, big enough for them to shimmy through sideways. Ace had some of his hair on fire as a light for the three. They were silent and subtle, doing their best to hide their presences. Luffy was the least skilled at haki, so he could only hide it for so long before losing control of it.

Sabo heard the sound of wind and the ocean and told Ace to burn a hole through that wall. They were soon outside, and horrified to see there was no island in sight, and their beloved ship was gone. Ace and Luffy had no way to swim, and it would be stupid to try and swim in New World waters.

Sabo looked over the side of the ship to see there was a space jutting out above the rudder. Big enough for all three to hide on and wait until they made it to an island. He pointed there, and told Luffy to stretch down and be their rope.

Luffy wrapped his arm around the railing and quickly stretched himself down to the spot they were heading to. Ace and Sabo climbed down his arm, thankful no one was in the captain's room that had large windows to see them lowering down.

When they made it to the space, Luffy's arm snapped back. "What do we do?" he asked. They couldn't be heard now over the sound of the waves so close to them. As long as there was no sudden movement, they could stay there.

"Wait for a new island and then try to find our crew. Fuckers took us, what did they do to the others?" Ace spat, worried. All of them were worried about their family. Their precious crew that helped them through their hardest times willingly. Not everyone would be willing to clean up a blood soaked face without being asked.


	4. Defiance and Rejection

**Trying_To_Be_Happy: Indeed. I do wonder if some of the WBs had Stockholm syndrome? Not nice to think about but it's possible...**

**Nance: I know right! I never find stories where the Whitebeards are the bad guys! I wrote one other one shot where they were sort of bad, but it was different than this one.**

**OtakuPie: <3 <3 <3**

**chickie434: We'll have to see. Hope they're okay. ;)**

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Marco went to the infirmary to check on the kids. It had been easy to take them, they were unconscious. As if waiting for them to arrive. Their crew fought valiantly, and were now in the infirmary on the Moby 2. If they behaved they could join the crew like their captains and Luffy. He tried to enter the infirmary but the door wouldn't open. He shook it hard, but there was something in the handles, meaning the kids had woken up. He put enough force into opening the door to snap the crutch that had been stuffed to keep anyone out. And they weren't in the room.

Marco hurried to the nurses quarters to see Tami and Whiskey were both unconscious, tied up and gagged. He said their names and undid their bindings. But they were very unconscious. He saw red marks on the backs of their necks. So they were knocked unconscious. The brats weren't in there, and he searched the room for them.

How had they gotten out? He started looking at any places in the wall, and rolled away a gurney to see a small hole burned through the wall. Too small for him to fit in. He cursed, and ran from the room to search the ship. He got other commanders, too, telling them the situation. And it wasn't long before Vista came back to Marco and Pops, who was also searching. "There's another hole in the wall through the third storage room."

Thatch huffed, "How did they find their way around without anyone seeing them?! I thought they were reckless and would light the room on fire!" Izo smacked him, and asked if he'd rather the ship be on fire. "Of course not, I was just saying," he pouted.

Vista said, "Well, they've made their ways into many marine bases."

Marco replied, "And they also destroyed the bases once inside. I don't smell any smoke or hear anything burning. Everyone should look for more holes. They had to have tried to get out onto deck. We should search the deck as well."

Pops agreed that was a good idea and they all spread out to search the deck. Marco easily found the exit hole, which led to the starboard side. But the kids weren't anywhere he could see. He turned into a phoenix and flew high above, seeing everything from a birds-eye view. They weren't out on deck, and he landed in anger.

Had they gone outside and then back inside? He looked down over the railing at the back but no one was there either. He went back to searching the interior of the ship with all of his brothers. Everyone was searching so far, and no one found them. The pirates started to be concerned about their safety. Surely they weren't stupid enough to jump off the ship?

-x-

The brothers stayed silent as they heard someone directly above them. Whoever it was looked down, but did not see beyond the part of the ship jutting out above their hiding spot. It was a good one, no one would be able to find them there as long as they were silent and hid their presence.

Sabo was getting cold, though. He had no shirt on, and his hat was gone. Thankfully, Luffy's hat was still there, sitting against his back. He was in the most stress, afraid to be the one to get them caught because of his inferior haki skill. They had no room to do anything besides sit with their knees pulled to their chests.

"I'm cold and hungry," Luffy complained, his stomach rumbling. Ace's growled in agreement. Sabo sighed and replied, "I know, I am, too, but we have to stay put. They're searching for us everywhere. As long as none of them fly, no one will find us. We have to be vigilant and not get caught. We may be here for a while." Luffy pouted sadly, and looked at the water that kept their voices from being heard.

They sat there for over an hour, the two older stiff from the position. It didn't bother Luffy since he could bend his body any way he wanted and not be in pain. "Do you think everyone is okay?" the youngest asked, all of them worried about their crew.

"If they aren't then I'm burning this whole ship down, with all of them on it," Ace said in a strong voice, completely serious. "Hey, then maybe our bounties would sky rocket since we defeated the Whitebeard pirates." Sabo chuckled and Luffy grinned. "Though we'd have to find another ship to get off of it so we don't get stuck in the ocean on a burning ship."

"Whose ship will you be burning?" a flat voice said that was not any of the brothers. They saw a man with blue wings in front of them flying and staring at them with stormy eyes. Ace didn't hesitate and sent a blast of fire at him, not caring if he died. They couldn't have their spot discovered yet. But the guy was fine, just continuing to glare at them, not a burn in sight. Defnietly a devil fruit user.

Then Sabo recognized him as the first mate of the pirates and the second strongest among them all. The captain was the strongest, obviously. Marco landed on the rudder lightly, close to them. "Why are you hiding here? You know how dangerous this is?" he asked seriously.

Ace scoffed. "Like being kidnapped by the Whitebeard pirates _isn't_ dangerous, you prick? Where's our crew and why did you take us?" Ace asked, being as rude as possible, even though Luffy didn't like that Ace. Sabo put a hand on his head, and Luffy relaxed.

"No one will hurt you here, even if you did hurt our nurses," Marco said calmly, not fazed by Ace's disrespect.

"You're the ones that kidnapped us. You're lucky I didn't burn them to death."

Sabo chided Ace. "You're going too far," he said, and Ace huffed, crossing his arms. Marco watched Ace with narrowed eyes, and then turned his gaze to the other two, who had been mostly silent. Sabo had a cold hard look on but Luffy looked thoroughly uncomfortable. After all, he'd been keeping a panic attack inside and this wasn't helping.

"You want me to be nice to him?! He kidnapped us and hurt our crew," Ace spat. Sabo made an exaggerated look to Luffy so Ace saw what his real problem was. Luffy was starting to breathe rapidly, eyes distant and starting to rock back and forth. Sabo put his arm around Luffy to keep him from falling forward.

"Luffy, Ace is fine, Ace is here. Right there, see him?" Sabo asked kindly, while Ace gave him an encouraging smile. He apologized for scaring him, and for being mean. Even though he didn't mean it, refusing to be polite to a kidnapper, it had upset Luffy. And he was incredibly fragile at the moment anyways.

Luffy made deep breaths while closing his eyes, trying to think of being at home on their ship, with Ace and Sabo, all of them happy. He pushed away the panic attack and Ace and Sabo encouraged him with praise. The youngest gave a watery smile.

"Are you going to stay here all night? There's a storm on the way, you know?" Marco said, still standing on the rudder, not falling off even as it moved around. He had incredible balance. Ace continued to glare at him. But it had gotten to Luffy, and he was looking afraid. Sabo sighed.

He asked, "Where is our crew? What have you done with them?"

Marco rubbed the back of his head, showing awkwardness. It showed that nothing good had happened to them. All three boys narrowed their eyes, Ace having flickers of flame on his knee. "They're on our sister ship, most likely in the infirmary. They fought valiantly, but they were up against a yonko crew."

So, they _hurt them._ Hurt their family to take them. They weren't there for them. Luffy was _furious._ He shot his arm forward, wrapped it around Marco's neck and dragged him down into the water. "Luffy, no! No, they'll kill us! Get him out!" Sabo screamed, and Luffy let his arm snap back, pulling Marco out of the water. He was soaking and angry now.

"You're coming up from here whether you like it or not. Do you want to die?" Marco asked, his hair plastered to his head. Sabo had to say he was surprised Luffy was not killed for doing that. The three looked at each other, and sighed in defeat. They stood up, and Luffy walked to the edge. Marco was about to go forward to seemingly fly him up.

"Don't touch him. Don't touch any of us," Ace growled, and Luffy threw his hand, arm stretching until his hands were around the railing. Ace and Sabo climbed up his arm expertly and got on the deck, taking his hand and catching him when he snapped up.

The three turned to see there was a crowd of people waiting for them. Sabo didn't have his pipe, so he covered his hands in haki. One of them, with big brown hair, asked why Marco was wet. "Luffy dragged me into the water." The three teens worried about the reaction before the pirates all started laughing at Marco, who gave them all death glares.

"You underestimate them, idiot," a man dressed like a woman said. "Just cause they're kids doesn't mean they're weak. They made it to the New World after all."

"Stupid Marco," a smaller pirate said, with a green shirt and mousy hair. The first mate told all of them to shut their mouths, but even the captain started laughing when he came into view. He was _huge._ All three boys backed away against the railing. He was way too powerful for them to even think about fighting him. Though Luffy and Sabo didn't put it above Ace to have him attack the captain.

Marco's face was red in anger and embarrassment. Whitebeard turned to look at the three kids who they'd been looking for for two hours. "We're not going to hurt you. If we were, then why would we have let you sleep in the infirmary?"

Ace flamed up. He didn't care if they were "nice" to them, they hurt their family and kidnapped them. Probably left their ship there forever, or burned it down for fun. "We don't care about that, take us back to our crew!" Ace shouted. Sabo didn't scold him this time, and Luffy had his fists balled in anger as well.

Whitebeard smiled pleasantly. "No. You're going to join our crew now," he said. All three brothers were shocked and angry. More shocked. They didn't expect that answer. They were probably going to be slaves here. Servants. Ace turned to Sabo.

"I though you said these ones were fucking decent like Shanks!" he exploded, pointing at the Whitebeards.

Sabo looked down. "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I had heard differently." The pirates were floundering before the one with big hair said, "It's not like that! We're not gonna hurt you or turn you into slaves. We just want you to join us!" He looked panicked.

But Luffy said, "Then why did you hurt our family?" in a deep and quiet voice, eyes showing hate that he hadn't shown in a very long time. "You want us to join after you hurt our crew and took them away from us?"

Marco stepped in, and said, "They attacked us first. It was self-defense. Besides, none of them are dead or in critical condition."

"Whether you like it yet or not, you'll stay here," the captain said, and Ace growled at him like an animal. Luffy wasn't upset at the reaction and was angry as well. What would they do in two weeks? All three of them worried about that. No one could find out, especially not enemy pirates. Who would wash away the blood? Where would they go, hide for the whole night? They'd need to find good hiding places. No matter what.

Ace spoke, eyebrows raising and wearing a haughty expression. "I hope you don't expect us to cooperate with you, or you will be sorely disappointed." He walked forward, pulling his brothers' hands before they joined him in walking, Luffy between them. Pirates in their way were shoved out of it by Ace, nearly knocking someone off the ship and over the railing.

They went inside, not knowing where to go. But Luffy was hungry, they all were. So they'd find the kitchen and eat whatever they wanted and as much as they wanted. If they could annoy their way off of this ship and back to their crew, then that would be the ideal situation. It was clear none of them wanted to let them go as of now.

They'd change that. All three of them were resolved to do that as best as they could. They did find the kitchen eventually, looking for the biggest door. The hallway ceilings were already very tall, but the doors were sized for normal sized people. So when they found a double door that reached to the ceiling, instead of pushing it open, Ace burned a hole into it that they walked through.

Luffy giggled at it and Ace smiled for real for the first time since they woke up. He ruffled Luffy's hair and they ran to the huge kitchen, and dug through one of the four refrigerators. They didn't throw it around, though, knowing wasting food on any ship is a big no-no. Luffy got out a bowl of chicken legs, and Ace cooked a slab of steak with his power.

Sabo went for a pasta dish that looked yummy. Even if he was the most respectful and polite one of the group, it was still food. Someone came into the room, walking through the big hole in the door, not seeming bothered about it at all.

"If you were hungry you could just ask," he said. It was the guy with big hair. "My name is Thatch, fourth division commander." Ace looked at him in an unimpressed way. Sabo had to resist with all his might not replying in a polite way, so he stayed quiet, eating from the container of pasta. Luffy ate the chicken legs whole, just shoving them down his throat.

Thatch looked at him funny. "Can I ask what your devil fruit is?" Ace said a definitive "No." And Luffy nodded in agreement. Thatch frowned, but recovered quickly. "Wait for a second," he said, and walked past them, who were watching him in suspicion. He brought a huge jug or transparent, golden liquid. He put it on the stove for a second before pouring it into three large cups. "It's my special spiced apple cider."

Thatch put the drinks on the counter and walked back a bit. Luffy reached for it, but Ace held him back. The younger pouted, but stretched his arm out and got it. "I wanna try it. If it hurts me you can kill him." Thatch made an unmanly sound, but Ace let Luffy go.

Luffy took a deep gulp of the hot liquid. He contemplated pranking Ace, but it would be a mean prank and scare him, so he resisted. Sabo and Ace watched nervously. "Yummy!" he exclaimed and reached for the other two.

"Hey, you got your own!" Ace protested, and snatched the drink from his grabby hands. Luffy pouted at him.

"You don't even want to drink it!" he replied heatedly. Sabo drank his own silently and then told Luffy he could ask for seconds. The youngest looked at Thatch with blank eyes. Then he smiled. "More, please."

Thatch happily went to get him seconds as Ace scolded Luffy for being polite. "They kidnapped us, remember? They took away our family." Luffy looked regretful, and Ace put a hand on his head. "Food is yummy, but we have a point to prove," the oldest said quietly. The three put their empty glasses on the counter and left before Thatch was done with the second serving. The three still had the food they'd stolen, though.

Now that they had food, they could inspect the ship more. They looked in every room, passing pirates and giving them threatening glares. They saw mostly storage rooms for various things, many bathrooms that they took note of. Even if they wanted to piss off the pirates, they weren't so low that they wouldn't use toilets and just piss and shit everywhere. It made Luffy giggle.

"What's so funny?" Sabo asked.

"I was thinking about them finding crap and piss everywhere. But we won't do that." Ace burst up into laughter.

"That would be hilarious!" he said, getting Sabo chuckling as well. Luffy grabbed the doorknob of one room, but it was locked. He broke the handle with an easy flick of his wrist and the three poked their heads in. It had lots of shelves and den dens. They slipped inside, making sure no one was in sight, and closed the door behind them.

Sabo flicked the light switch and the light showed just how many den den mushis there were. They sorted through them, looking for one that allowed them to call anyone. It was a long shot that any of the Spades had it, but a try wouldn't hurt anything. They'd already broken into the locked room after all.

"Got it," Ace said, holding up a dial den den. He called their personal one, but it rang and no one picked up for a full minute. Ace swore, and Luffy became sad. "Well, it was a long shot anyway," Ace conceded, and they quietly left the room. The handle was broken but working. It just wouldn't lock again.

They continued down the hall and came to the stairs. "Up or down?" Sabo wondered. They decided on down, and headed deeper into the ship. This floor was much more varied. In some rooms, they were full of tools or equipment. One was some sort of work shop, with all sorts of things. Tons of wood and tools. "These guys could have fixed PoS," Ace huffed.

All three grew sad, thinking of their beloved ship, alone and abandoned on a beach. Tears came to Luffy's eyes and dripped down his cheeks. Sabo wiped them away with a hug. Luffy hugged him back. "I miss home," he said quietly.

"I do, too. We'll get back, once they get tired of us, we'll find our way back with everyone. We'll be happy again," Sabo said quietly. "Why don't we keep searching for a place to safely reset in?" Luffy nodded and Ace did, too.

The three came to a big, stone door with no window in it. There were big locks on it, and the door was heavy to open. It was cold and stale inside, the walls coated in metal, with no portholes. Ace closed the heavy door behind him, which shut with a loud slam. Too loud, but no one came to inspect.

There was one light switch, and it was minimal. They ventured in deeper finding cells with rusted locks. "Looks like we found the brig," Sabo commented. Everything was rusty or stiff, meaning it hadn't been used for anything in a while. "It's not some place comfortable, but it's clear not many come down here. We can reset here. There won't be anyone to clean us up, though."

Ace added, "We could hide a bucket of water and some towels in here. Then we can clean ourselves up just fine. I think we found a good place. And no one will think to look down here. Our presences disappear when we reset." They never called it death. It was a reset, since they didn't stay dead.

The word death carried a sense of finality. But they didn't stay dead for good. So they did not "die". They reset and would always call it that. "We can be behind here and cover ourselves with a blanket." They were all upset that they'd have to reset, be so vulnerable, in a place where they didn't know or trust anyone.

Luffy started to cry, covering his eyes with his hands. Ace hugged him tightly. "Everything will be okay. We'll go back home with our family. We'll have fun wreaking havoc on marines. We'll be free-" and he choked up, too. Sabo was pressing his lips together.

They all realized that moment: they'd lost the freedom they'd crawled out of their graves to retake. And now it is gone.

The three stayed down there for a while, putting themselves back together. All three of them had cried at one point or another down in the cold brig. They hated this. So much. And they hated the Whitebeards for taking it away from them. None of them knew what they had done to deserve being where they were now.

Sabo had to run from his noble heritage and get stabbed. Stay dead for years. Ace had to look after his brother (poorly), grieving the loss of a brother who only ever wanted freedom. Then he got sick, leaving Luffy alone. Then Luffy was trapped on a marine ship, somewhere he had never wanted to be. He lost both brothers along with the last semblance of freedom in sight. Then he drowned.

Their bodies had lay underground for years, all of their lights snuffed out. Until it wasn't. They were alive, each bearing new scars in their minds. They had to reset by themselves for six years. Luffy had to watch Ace bleed to death and wake up to the sight so often. They fought every day to grab onto their dream. And they made it, made it as pirates, formed a crew, and were living their dreams.

Until they weren't. Until they were separated by the family they'd built, lost their home. Lost all freedom they'd had. It was gone. But they would get it back no matter what.

That night they slept in an empty room with two beds. All three of them laid on one of them, Luffy in the middle. He fell asleep first, while Sabo and Ace just stared at each other with empty gazes for a good hour before Sabo drifted off, followed by Ace last.

The three didn't come out in the morning. They stayed in their crappy, unfamiliar and boring room. They skipped breakfast, even though they were all hungry. It was near noon when there was a knock on their door. "Go away," Ace called, not even getting off the bed, still laying on his side.

Luffy was laying on his back with his straw hat over his heart. He liked Shanks most out of the yonko. Whitebeard was supposed to be nice? He took them, didn't even tell them why. Just that he wanted to keep them against their will. Even though it would make them miserable… The Whitebeard pirates were _selfish._

"I have food for you," Thatch's voice called.

"Fuck off," Ace called back. There was no response, just the sound of something heavy making contact with the floor. Sabo was sitting in the only chair in the room before he unlocked and opened the door to see a huge tray of food. He stared at it with a blank expression before picking it up and setting it on Luffy's bed.

All three of them stared at it for a good five minutes before Ace laid back down and turned to face the wall, knees up to his chest. Sabo attempted to eat, but it tasted like sand in his mouth. The water was fine, and felt good on his dry throat. Luffy was the only one to eat any of it at first, but he ate it in an almost bored manner.

"You guys should eat, too," he said simply. Ace made a grunt in response, but Sabo agreed with Luffy and ate some of the food. "We're gonna eat it all and Ace won't get any."

The oldest sighed and then sat up to go and eat. "You know, I felt a lot more energized yesterday about pissing them off enough to make them let us go. Now I just want to lay in bed all day. I want to be happy. I want to be the post-reset Ace. Not who I was before. I don't want to make Luffy sad. I… I want to be nice and _happy._ But I don't know any other way how to get off of this ship," Ace confessed honestly.

Luffy moved over and hugged him. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you guys. I couldn't keep us free." The oldest's voice was thick, heavy with guilt and sorrow.

Luffy shook his head. "We couldn't protect each other. We couldn't protect our crew. _We,_ not just you," the small teen said with a firm voice.

Sabo was rarely the pessimist in the group (that was for Ace), but he lamented, "None of this would have happened if we didn't reset. Why does it have to happen still? It's not fair. I'm sick of it. Our family made it easier, now they're gone and we'll be going through it alone. In a dark, cold place. We'll go through painful, scary resets in the least comforing place imaginable. It's not fair."

The other two agreed. Now more than ever, they didn't want to reset. If it was the only way they survived, then they would reset. But was it necessary? If it wasn't, then why did it still happen. Why did it ever happen in the first place? They had never gotten an answer. _Never._ It couldn't have been something in the ground that seeped through the dirt compacting them, since Luffy was sheltered in a coffin when he awoke.

There was no way to find out, so they tried to not think about the "why"s of the problem.


	5. The Dam Breaks

**chickie434: The Whitebeards play a big part in the reset. Look forward to it. ;)**

**sousie: Yup!**

**OtakuPie: <3 <3 <3 **

**Ferna52: Oh, it gets much angstier. Mwahaha.**

**Trying_To_Be_Happy: Yeah, Marco is a jerk in this one. Which I've only written in a one shot. Every other fic with Marco he is a feathery angel.**

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**PTSD warning in this chapter. Poor baby. Enjoy~**

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After they finished the food, they stuck the tray outside the door. All three of them laid in the same bed, curled up with one another and silent. There was a knock on the door, but the knob was locked. They ignored whoever was knocking on the door.

Finally, Ace, again, told whoever it was to fuck off. "I would think you'd want a change of clothes, but I guess I was wrong," a clipped voice said from the hall. Sabo knew what this was. Trying to get them to answer by being haughty, acting like the right one. The blonde stopped Luffy from getting up. Ace got the jist. They wouldn't let any of them win. They would _not_ cooperate!

"You were. Now go fuck yourself," Ace said in a dry tone. Whoever was outside the door made an angry noise before stomping away. Ace gave a weak smile. "Maybe we can do this. We can't let them do whatever they want with us. We're not going to go along with what they want, what they want us to do."

Luffy said, "Maybe we can use an ultameron."

"Ultimatum?"

"Yeah, that. Maybe we say we'll cooperate if we get to talk to the others," he said. They had to admit, it was the only idea they had. "But we don't have to follow through. We're pirates, they should know that better than anyone."

Ace nodded, and added, "Besides, they're way worse than us just being rude."

Sabo said, "Then we'll do that."

The three stood up and left the room. They ignored anyone telling them goodmorning, and Ace would flip them off occasionally. He hated this, though. He felt himself slipping every time he was an ass. Slipping back to that person he was for so long. The person that helped to permanently damage Luffy.

They found Marco. "Feather head, let us talk to our crew," Ace demanded. Luffy and Sabo had hard looks on. Marco didn't react to Ace's insult, but Ace didn't react to it. Didn't act angry that Marco didn't get irate with it.

"Not yet," Marco replied in a flat voice.

"Then when?" Sabo asked in a voice as cold as ice. It made Luffy shiver. Sabo rarely used that voice unless it was against a real enemy. Were these people real enemies? He hated them, but they didn't try to hurt them yet. Yet, they would try once they got irritated enough.

Marco thought for a moment. "Once you agree to join." All three brothers felt rage like they'd never felt before. Ace and Luffy had it but weren't good at controlling it, so a double wave of conquerors haki burst out, and slammed against Marco, knocking him out. Sabo was wobbly, but Ace slapped him hard to get his attention.

"Abort plan, just go and steal the den den and hide," Ace said, and the three spritnted to the room they knew had the den dens. No one was in there, so they found the den dens that linked to the other ships. Luffy snatched another one at the last minute.

All three of them booked it to the far staircase, and to the lowest floor. No one seemed to be down there, so they made it to the brig and shut the door, locking it from the inside and hid their presences. They were all panting from the nerves. Marco would probably be mad now, but now they knew their haki could work against the pirates. If it could knock out phoenix Marco, then it would be easy to get the rest.

Sabo took hold of the blue den den mushi that connected to "the Moby 2". The snail rang until it picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Marco," Sabo said. He was always amazing at imitating voices. "Need to talk to the Spade crew about something. Can you put the one in charge of them on?"

"Oh, sure!" the man's voice said, and there was shuffling until the door shut and Deuce asked, "What do you want? Where are my captains and Luffy?"

Sabo kept his voice the same. "ASL brothers are on this ship. I have a question for you. Are you liking your treatment on the Moby 2?" Deuce clearly knew who it was.

He huffed, and showed some attitude, playing along well. "Well, they're not torturing us if that's what you mean. We don't want to be here in the first place. What's happening with Ace, Sabo and Luffy?"

"They aren't happy, but we're going to make them join the crew. They aren't cooperating, but hopefully they will soon. What should they do at the next half-a-moon?" Sabo was making no sense to Luffy, but Ace figured it out, he was using code.

Deuce said, "Well, they should have each other, right? Even if they're on your shitty ship, I'm sure they'll get through it if they're together. Besides, they're smart. Smarter than you probably give them credit for."

Sabo smiled, and Luffy had tears in his eyes. "Thanks." And the snail hung up.

Luffy busied himself with the one he'd snatched. It was bigger than the baby ones. He pressed it, and it rang for a bit. Sabo and Ace were going to ask who it was and what Luffy was doing, but then the den den mushi picked up.

"Hello?" Shanks asked.

"Shanks! Come help us! They stole us and separated us from our crew!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Lu-Luffy?! What are you doing on Whitebeard's ship?" he asked in bafflement. Luffy explained everything that had happened, starting at the ship beaching, and then getting taken while they were unconscious. About their crew being taken away, and how they'd stolen the den den mushi to make contact with him and their crew. And how they would be resetting alone soon.

Shanks sighed. "I can't come and get you, Luffy. I'm sorry. I can't risk getting in a fight with Newgate. But if you truly don't want to stay there, I'm sure they might eventually let you do. I'm sorry." The three didn't respond, the two older looking at Luffy as tears came down his cheeks.

"Okay. Sorry I called," he said, voice flat and devoid of any emotion. He felt betrayed. After they told Shanks everything, he didn't even want to try helping them. Luffy hung up the snail before Shanks said anything else. The youngest curled in on himself, rocking back and forth. He was going to have an episode.

Ace took him into his arms. "Everything will work out. Deuce said they are not being hurt or tortured. We have to figure this out ourselves, like we always have. And Deuce is right, we can do it even if it's just the three of us. If we're smart, we'll be fine."

Luffy tried to ground himself, and his hands clenching Ace's arm harshly didn't hurt due to his logia power. "Why don't we go put this stuff back before they find our spot?" Ace offered. It would be best to distract Luffy.

He nodded, and the three stood up and walked out of the brig, leaving it just as they had come to it. They kept their presences hidden, and were on their way back to the room they'd stolen from. They ran into Marco, who looked furious. Ace wanted to laugh, but just gave him a smirk.

They walked right past him and returned the snails to the room. "What did you do with those?" Marco asked. Sabo lightly replied, "We made sure our crew was okay and tied to get someone else to help us. They declined."

"How did you talk to your crew? They shouldn't have let you talk, you aren't one of the commanders," Marco said, confusion on his face. Sabo smiled politely.

"I'm good at impressions," he said simply. "Since you kept us from talking to our family, you have lost any cooperation we were going to offer. Good job." The three sent cold looks at Marco and walked away, back to their room. Luffy needed to cry in private. His face was getting red and that usually meant he was near tears, not angry.

-x-

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose tightly in the communications room. He needed to know why they called Shanks, and what they said when they spoke to the Spades. This was a complete breach of trust. But they didn't trust them in the first place. He called Shanks first. And he picked up immediately, which he usually didn't.

"Luffy?"

"No, it's me, yoi. What did they call you for?" Marco asked in a hard voice. The den den didn't answer for a moment, just staring straight on. He waited impatiently, but Shanks did reply.

"They called me for help. What you're doing is wrong, Marco. You don't know what they've been through, and you've stolen their lives away. It's wrong. But I can't help them and risk a war with Whitebeard. I know you have good intentions, but it won't work out. It won't, and they will do everything to defy you," Shanks explained. Marco could tell Shanks had known Luffy well before now.

Was that why he was happy and wasted the sake before coming to Pops? But there was nothing to back that thought on, and he knew Shanks would not give information about the boys. He didn't ask, knowing it would be pointless.

"You know Pops. When he sees something he wants, he gets it. They'll accept us sooner or later, I'm sure," Marco said easily.

Shanks was quiet. "I'll say it again: you're doing something wrong. Goodbye, Marco." And the snail hung up. Marco was left troubled. What did they go through that had Shanks so upset? He shook his head and sighed. He went to the other den den and called the Moby 2.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Soki. So, it was one of the Spades captains that called. Did they sound like me?" Marco asked.

"That was quite the impression they gave! Sounded just like you!" Soki exclaimed. Marco asked what was said between Sabo and his crewmember. "Asked how they were being treated, then asked something about a half-moon. Deuce said that they would be fine as long as they stuck together and were smart. I didn't understand much of it. I would have focused more, but I did think it was you," he explained.

Half-moon? Some sort of code? The moon wasn't even close to being half full right now. It was strange. "Thanks Soki. Next time I call, ask what my birthday is to make sure it's actually me. We should lock the den dens away now."

The snail nodded, and Soki wished him good luck. Marco had to go talk to Pops. Maybe the brats were more trouble than they were worth.

-x-

"I miss them. A lot," Luffy mumbled into the pillow. There was nothing to do. They didn't want to go outside and be approached by any pirates. They were high strung, and any attempt to get to know them might end up with one of them making an unwise decision. Though Luffy already almost killed Marco and both he and Ace knocked him out with uncontrolled haki. Sabo rubbed Luffy's hair.

"We do too. But they aren't being hurt right now. That's the best we can ask for. Home is probably going to keep waiting for us at that island. We just have to wait until they let us leave and we meet up with the others," Sabo explained kindly.

Luffy sniffled. "I was supposed to have a session with Deuce this week. Now I can't. He helps me feel better," Luffy said, putting his face in the pillow. Ace flamed up at this, angry that the Whitebeards were interfering with Luffy's continuous sessions with Deuce. They were usually right after the resets. This time was worse, Luffy saw all of Ace's passing. And it was worse than usual. It had been drawn out and graphic.

"Deuce held Ace when he was resetting. Who's gonna hold us? We'll be cold and all alone, in the deep room," Luffy lamented. Sabo and Ace had no answer. They couldn't rely on one another. They were all out of action, and it was terrifying to know they would be deeply unconscious on an enemy pirate ship, unable to protect themselves.

"I don't know what's gonna happen, Lu. I guess we'll play it by ear," Ace said. "I'm sorry last time was so bad." Sabo looked confused, not having seen it as he was first to go. He had the benefit of not seeing the other two die. Luffy didn't, though. Always the one to suffer the most.

Sabo asked what he meant. "It was longer and there was more blood. Deuce kept me from choking on it. I wish at least he was on this ship, too. As long as we have one other person. I miss the others a lot, but Jojo and Deuce helped the most with the resets. They were the ones who could stomach it most." Sabo looked down, feeling bad for not being there for his brothers when they needed someone. Luffy was going to do it completely alone. He would see both of them die, be alone in a dark and unfamiliar place.

Life truly wasn't fair.

There was a knock on the door, but none of them answered, Ace didn't even say anything rude. Morale had tanked lower. Even after hearing that the Spades were not being harmed, they still didn't feel much better. Especially Luffy, who felt abandoned by Shanks.

The knocking didn't go away, so Sabo got up and opened it. "What."

"Pops wants to talk to you," Thatch said.

"We in trouble?" Ace grumbled.

"Not really," Thatch said. It was an awkward lie. But they might as well go. Luffy held Sabo's hand, and Ace took his other one. Thatch led them to the captain's room, which they'd seen briefly through the window when they went to their hiding place. The double doors opened and they walked into the massive room. Whitebeard was on the bed and Marco was standing beside it, arms crossed. Man, he really hated the three.

Well, that was good. Then they'd let them go and they could reunite with their crew. The treasure could not be found on the ship. They could definitely pay people to help them fix up the injured the PoS had gone through. She was precious, even if she was sometimes nicknamed the Piece of Shit.

The three just stood there, Ace and Sabo with stoic faces, with Luffy just looking broken inside, looking at the floor. "What do you want?" Ace asked, voice flat but filled with anger. At him, at what he'd done. At what he'd done to Luffy. He and Sabo still had no idea how he hadn't had a huge panic attack yet. It will be bad when it comes. Deuce would be the one to help, Luffy sometimes thought Ace and Sabo were ghosts and didn't believe when he was told they were alive. That's why they needed someone else able to prove to Luffy that they hadn't died for good.

"I want to know why you called Shanks," Whitebeard said.

"Why should we tell you? After everything you've done to us, why should we do anything you ask?" Ace asked in a snarl, sides of his mouth raised in a look of both contempt and disgust.

Marco frowned, and Whitebeard looked confused as well. "What do you mean? What have I done to you that's so horrible?" Ace scoffed, and Sabo's frown grew deeper.

"You stole our freedom and family from us," Sabo said simply. "Along with precious resources Luffy needs."

Whitebeard sighed. "We did not steal your freedom. We want you to be happy with us. Why are you so averse to joining?" He seemed genuinely confused. Luffy looked sour. "We haven't done you any harm."

"Sure, _physically._ You ever think there was more harm you could do to someone besides injuring them? You know _nothing_ about us yet you want us to join bad enough to split us up and abandon our home? You didn't even _ask!"_ Ace raged. Luffy was shaking, trying hard to hold everything in, and the pirates all looked shocked.

Luffy kept from making eye contact with anyone in the room, even his brothers. "You took away Luffy's therapist and our doctor," Sabo said coolly. "You can't just replace one doctor with a stranger and think things will be fine."

Whitebeard looked regretful, and they hoped that he would change his mind. They needed to get out now, Luffy was going to melt down. His hands were shaking, practically vibrating as he held his emotions in. He wasn't comfortable to fall apart. That's why they needed the comforts of home. Luffy's room, his home, his special objects.

He was so bright just days ago, so happy. Now it was all messed up.

"I am sorry that I split you up. I still want you to join us-" And Luffy promptly screamed.

" _Ace, you'll be fine, Ace. Shhh," Deuce said in the dark, the sound of coughing, choking and the splatter of liquid on the floor in the room. Gasps of pain and harsh breathing with little moans from the pain._

_Luffy was stuck to watch as Ace died in such agony, Sabo still and gone, unable to help. Luffy started to reset next, his eyes blurring to see Deuce holding his gasping body, shushing him, saying he'd be alright soon._

_The sounds of Ace's reset filled his mind, he couldn't even hear himself screaming and sobbing._

Luffy thrashed around in Sabo's hold as they ran to their room, Thatch running after them. Ace formed a wall of flames so Thatch couldn't get through. It didn't spread, but it kept anyone going after them. Marco wasn't coming so that was good.

They slammed the door open and ran inside, shutting and locking it behind him. Sabo laid Luffy on the bed, trying to calm him down. It was as worse as they could have imagined as Luffy shoved them away while screaming for them to save him.

Ace and Sabo didn't know what to do to help, they had no way to convince Luffy they weren't ghots and that he wasn't alone or seeing things that weren't there. So, Ace and Sabo curled around him, making him realize they were physically there.

"No more blood!" Luffy screamed, and kicked and thrashed at his brothers. "Ace, Sabo!" Luffy screamed, completely disconnected from reality.

The door was slammed inwards, and Thatch was there with a den den mushi, giving it to them. "Luffy! Luffy!" Deuce's voice shouted. Luffy looked for him around, his screaming stopping. Sabo shoved Thatch out of the room, closing the door, which's lock was now broken.

"Luffy, can you hear me? Can you feel a touch on your forehead?" Deuce's voice asked. Luffy moved his hand to his forehead, finding Sabo's hand. "That's Sabo's hand. Sabo, say something." They did this in practice long ago. They had a ritual.

"The sky is blue at day," Sabo said calmly.

"Sabo just said the sky is blue at day. Can you feel a touch on your left ear? That's Ace. Ace, can you say something?"

"The sky is black at night," Ace said firmly, hand still on Luffy's ear.

"Ace just said the sky is black at night. Can you feel hands on your chest?" Luffy nodded and looked down at the two hands pressed against his chest. "That's Ace and Sabo. They're alive, I have proof. I heard them speak. That means they aren't in your head."

Luffy's eyes widened, and he started crying, more in embarrassment and stress. "I wanna go home!" he cried, curling back into a ball. Tears dripped down Ace and Sabo's eyes, as they were powerless to do anything.

Luffy cried for a good while before he fell asleep from exhaustion and emotional stress. Once the screaming was done and the crying faded, the door opened to show Marco, looking regretful. "We have a compromise. If we accept your crew to come too, will you join us?"

Sabo stared at him in a calculating way. "Bring them here and we'll see," he said in a hard voice. Marco nodded, and Thatch was seen standing in the hall, looking upset and worried. "I hope he feels better soon," he said, as the den den mushi was taken away for Marco to talk to whoever was on the other line.

-x-

Luffy woke up in bed, tucked in, not in their room. He opened his eyes slowly and turned to the side to see all of the Spades inside the room. Luffy beamed, and jumped off the bed to hug Deuce and then Jojo. They hugged him back, and then they all suddenly bowed to the brothers. They were each surprised by this.

"We're sorry we were unable to protect you and the ship," Saber said strongly, and the others apologized, too. The brothers frowned, and told them to raise their heads. Sabo looked at them all in sadness, sympathy. He knew what it was like to fail your family. He and Ace knew it very well.

"We don't blame you. We were out of action and unable to help, too," Sabo said calmly. "But we're all together now. And we'll figure a way to get back to the PoS. Did they do anything bad to her?" The three were terrified that she had been burned down or something.

Aggies 68 said, "She was left there. They didn't burn her down, but she was still on her side. The mast broke during the fight. It wasn't a long fight, but it still damaged her. We need a professional to fix her up."

The three all sighed, and Luffy put his face in his hands, Ace rubbing his back gently. "It'll be okay, Lu. We convinced them to give us back our crew, maybe we can convince them to let us go."

Sabo frowned at him. "You know it only happened because Luffy had a big panic attack, right? I don't want him having another one to let us get back home." Ace looked ashamed, not having thought about that. Sabo sighed and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. Rubbing his hands down his face, he asked, "Why do they want us to stay in the first place? It's not like we've exactly been nice to them.

"First time we met Marco, Luffy tried to drown him. Then there's the fact we burned holes into their walls, tied up and gagged their nurses, and are just being all around assholes. I don't get it," he finished.

None of the others understood either. But Saber then offered, "You guys are awesome when _not_ kidnapped and held against your will. Though I don't understand why they would know that before finding us."

Jojo added, "Maybe it's from your silly wanted poster. But that's a stretch." She sat down on one of the beds. "At least they let us be together again. You guys won't have to reset all alone." The three nodded, so happy about that. Ace explained that they'd found the brig and would reset in there. Their presences disappeared when they were resetting. Deuce would just have to hide his all night.

Finamore frowned at this. "That's not exactly a nice place to go through it."

The rest agreed. The three should be somewhere comfortable while going through a painful, traumatic experience. "Well, there's no other place to go that we don't think will be found. No one seems to go down there. The door was really rusted and stiff. It'll suck, but we have to. Who knows how these pirates would react to knowing about the reset?"

Sabo sighed and Luffy flopped onto the bed, laying on his back. Ace then asked, "Were you guys really beaten up badly?" Deuce replied that they'd been beaten into unconsciousness, but had no lasting wounds. Jojo grew sour.

"They fucking went easy on me cause I'm a woman. Pissed me off! Even after I sliced a huge wound into stupid bird man. That's cheating, being able to heal like that," she ranted, arms crossed tightly so she didn't break anything. "I feel naked without my swords. They took them all away."

Sabo agreed, knowing how it felt to not be armed. Ace and Luffy were lucky that they had devil fruits that helped them fight. Sabo only had strong haki, but wasn't wonderful at real hand to hand. He was better than most average pirates, but had no doubt he'd get his ass kicked without his pipe.

"I'm hungry," Luffy complained, his stomach rumbling to prove it. "Let's go get some food," he said. Everyone was hungry as well, so they all left the room in a crowd of ten. They didn't mean to, but the Spades had formed a circle around their captains and first mate. When they entered the kitchen, Jojo whistled.

"This is quite the kitchen," she said, going to look at the huge stove and multiple ovens, not to mention the many large refrigerators. "I'd love to cook here."

Deuce sat at the bar counter and said, "Then cook. We're not here to make friends." The others nodded, and Jojo grinned before getting things together to make her crew homemade pasta. They had all of the ingredients for it, plenty of it. They all watched as she easily made the pasta out of dough.

While the pasta was boiling in the large pot, she started to work on the sauce. It really was nice that she had everything she needed.

When the pasta was served to all of them, and she was washing out what she'd used for the sauce, Thatch came in, looking angry. He demanded to know why she was in his kitchen. Apparently he didn't like others cooking in his space? Jojo handled it well.

"I was cooking. It's not like there's a second kitchen. I cleaned everything up, didn't I?" She always wiped down the counters and sink after she finished cooking, no matter if she didn't use much of the counter space.

Thatch was still bothered. But he asked what she made. The female chef didn't reply for a bit before she finally answered. "Pasta."

"Homemade?"

"Yes, you had plenty of ingredients to make the pasta and sauce. Don't think I won't cook in here again. You took away my kitchen, you owe it to me to use yours," she said cooly. The men of the crew were digging in enthusiastically. Luffy inhaled his huge serving, while Ace competed with him. Both of them were on the verge of choking, but they were in a competition.

Sabo said, "You know you could enjoy the food instead of seeing who can eat it faster."

Ace argued that they _did_ enjoy it, Luffy nodding in agreement, cheeks stuffed with food. Thatch was still there, and Ace asked what he was still doing there.

"... Can I try it?" he asked, surprising the Spades. They looked at Jojo, who nodded. Thatch got out his own plate and utensils and served himself some of the steaming pasta and then the sauce. They watched him closely, going to be furious if he dissed their chef's food. And she wouldn't take anyone insulting her cooking.

The enemy chef ate some of it, and looked away angrily. "What?" Ace demanded.

"...It's good. Better than I can make," he said honestly.

"Of course it is, these monsters have it multiple times a week," she bragged, and Thatch looked at her before turning flustered before he sat down at a table behind them and ate the food much more slowly than the male Spades. Jojo looked very satisfied, and superior.

They were having small talk while eating, passing each other the freshly ground pepper or parmesan she had made. No one mentioned anything that was serious in front of the Whitebeard commander.

Once they had finished, Luffy and Ace on the verge of vomiting it all up, Jojo took all of the dishes into the kitchen and went to the huge sink to wash them. Thatch said, "You know you could use the dishwasher."

"Washing by hand is relaxing, so no thank you," she said in a clipped voice. Thatch said she was welcome to use the kitchen as long as she didn't use up any food or make a mess. "Why would I make a mess?" she asked in almost offense.

Thatch said, "I was just saying. Some of my sous chefs make a mess and I have to tell them to clean it up." Jojo was fast at dishwashing and was already familiar with the kitchen, putting the plates back on the rack in one of the cupboards.

She washed her hands before wiping them on a towel hanging on the wall. "Well I'm not your sous chef, am I?" she said, and didn't spare a glance at him before the Spades left the room. Luffy gushed over the yummy food.

They ran into Marco in the hall, who stared at them all. Then, he frowned softly. "I want to apologize for my behavior so far. I was an asshole, and I know why you guys try to be, too. We aren't going to be letting you go anytime soon, but we want to get along with you guys. So, I'm sorry for my previous attitude."

They were surprised with this, but Luffy spoke next. "Sorry I almost drowned you."

"I forgive you. I would be angry if someone beat up my brothers. It was insensitive and I said it flippantly. It was wrong to separate you from your family. It wasn't empathetic and we clearly didn't take your feelings into account. I hope we can get along," Marco said, sounding sincere.

Ace didn't accept this, still feeling Marco was a bad guy. He was just trying to be nice. He clenched his hands, angry that he was reverting to who he was here. He was under stress, and wasn't anywhere he felt comfortable at. He knew these pirates could hurt his brothers. He wouldn't trust them anytime soon.

"We won't be getting along with you. Sorry not sorry," he said, and walked past Marco, the others following and not sparing a glance back. When they arrived back in the room that was now much too small for them, Ace sat on the bed and put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. Luffy knew what he was upset about, so he sat next to him, leaning against his side.

"Don't be mean to us and everything will be okay," Luffy said kindly.

Ace rubbed his hands down his face. "I don't like being this way. I don't like being mean, or hostile. But I'll do it to protect you guys. All of you."

Sabo was having conflicting feelings. He thought Marco was being sincere, but no matter how much he regretted his first impression, they were still keeping them against their wills. They weren't free, and wouldn't get along with those that had taken it without considering anything.

Even if they had asked for them to join, they would have said no. But it was worse from the start that they took and separated them. It was unforgivable.


	6. The First Reset

**OtakuPie: E > E> A new and crappier heart emoji lol.**

**LadyShip1294: Yeah, Shanks is bad in this one. :( We might see him again later, who knows?**

**chickie434: It was hard to write Shanks abandoning Luffy. Poor baby was betrayed.**

**Trying_To_Be_Happy: Yeah, he should have braved Whitebeard's anger. I mean, he went on his ship and demanded him to tell Ace to ditch his mission and they got in a fight over that. There's no reason he wouldn't go for a much more important reason.**

* * *

**I now have 5 stories on hold for when some of my current ones finish. Apparently my floor for what is acceptable for long ones had changed to 60,000 words. All of them are longer than that. -_- So much fun editing 5 stories way over 60,000 words. At least they'll last awhile! Enjoy~**

* * *

Marco sat in the galley with his head in his hands, angry and frustrated. The way they'd gone about this was all wrong. Shanks was right, they were wrong to do it how they had. But Pops still wanted to keep them, and Marco wouldn't argue with him when his mind was made up. He didn't know how they would get along with them after everything that had already happened.

Marco had ruined his chance to be close to them with how he acted before. The only person who stood a chance at befriending them was Thatch, how he always was. He was nice from the start. Marco wished he had been, too.

Pops wouldn't be changing his mind about them. They'd already stolen, broken things, and attacked Marco. If those things didn't put Pops off, then nothing would. It was a stalemate, and he knew they wouldn't be caving first.

-x-

Sabo was amazed with the library they had on this ship. It spanned two floors, walls stuffed with all sorts of books. He browsed them while his crew and brothers played games on the carpeted floor. The door was locked so no one would bother them.

He could hear Luffy laughing from behind him. He'd drawn on Ace's face again, and he would be pissed. Though he couldn't stay angry very long. It just wasn't possible. The three found a forgotten deck of cards in a cupboard in the large room, and were playing with that animatedly.

Like usual, Luffy failed, but also like usual, he had fun anyways. Ace woke up and when Luffy giggled, he tackled Luffy to the floor. His punishment was ruthless tickles, as the youngest screamed at him to get off. "No, you need punishment for what you've done!" Ace exclaimed, and Deuce got in on it, holding Luffy's arms up against his will as Ace tickled down his sides and under his armpits.

They finally let him go once tears were in his eyes. "That was mean, Ace! All I did was connect the dots on your freckles," he complained, and Sabo laughed from the stairway that spiraled upwards.

The books were all contained in shelves with plastic doors that he slid open to access the books. It made sense, since if they weren't confined, every rock of the ship would send them flying around the room. He picked out some books about New World islands they hadn't visited yet and went to the lounge chairs and sat down to read them.

The ruckass the others were making didn't distract Sabo from his book, quite used to it. It was background noise. But everyone went quiet from their laughing and playing when there was a knock on the door.

Saber got up to open the door and they saw Thatch standing there with two trays of drinks. He smiled at them and said that he'd brought them some spiced apple cider. To his credit, he walked to the closest table and set the trays down before giving them a wave and leaving. Saber put the lock back in place, which was a decorative poker for a fake fireplace through both handles.

Luffy got up to get his own, and everyone else followed, though it was a bit hesitant. They all drank some and they all liked it. "Hmm, apple cider, nutmeg, brown sugar, cinnamon, orange and cloves." She was able to know ingredients by tasting, though not knowing how much of each thing. "I'll make this sometime for everyone once we're back home."

Ace grinned. "Bet Thatch can't do that. He seems like the idiot of the crew we've seen so far. We haven't seen many, but I get the feeling. Like how Luffy is the idiot of our crew."

Luffy launched at Ace, even if he knew Ace was just joking. "At least I don't sleep in my food," he said, and Ace ran after him as he ran around the room. It was fun, and they were more relaxed than they'd been since the whole start, which was only a couple days ago. It felt so much longer.

The Spades chuckled at them as Jojo had found a cookbook and was memorizing some of the recipes that looked good. Aggie 68 was reading medical journals he'd found. Finamore was napping, somehow, and Ducky Bee was on his back and staring at the ceiling. The very high ceiling.

Deuce and Saber were watching the brothers play around, glad to see them happy. Even if it was only when they were completely isolated. It was a good day, considering, and they spent most of it in the library.

For bedtime, they were given a new room with bunks in it. It was much bigger than the previous, but still a little cramped. It was in the hall with other divisions, so they couldn't reset in there without risking anyone knocking on the door for something.

-x-

For the next week, they stayed away from the pirates. They didn't go near them if they could help it, and if they did, they either were rude or completely ignored them. They were all growing concerned that they wouldn't be let off this ship. The Whitebeard's weren't budging an inch. But neither were the Spades. It was a true stalemate, and there was no show on either side of one caving or giving in.

They also grew more and more worried about the oncoming reset. Deuce was the one who went and slowly got supplies into the brig, buckets of water, blankets, rags and anything else to make them as comfortable as possible.

The three brothers were good at not being seen, knowing whenever someone was approaching so they could hide in any nearby room. There were times that they split up from the others in the crew to do things that would be much more noticeable in the group of ten.

The one who was trying the hardest to get along with them was Thatch, while some of the commanders waved at them politely. No matter how much of an asshole they were to Thatch, he still always smiled at them, or asked if they wanted anything to eat. He even helped Jojo cook a complicated recipe, letting her call the shots.

That hated them all, but couldn't help but start to think Thatch wasn't a bad guy, but supported something bad. Everyone else were bad guys, especially the captain. They rarely saw him, he was busy running a ship with _far too many_ people. But still, no one visited the brig. They were positive that it was the best place, no matter if it was a terrible place. Cold and hard and dark. Nothing comfortable, but it was necessary.

The night it came, the brothers did not have dinner. They snuck down into the brig where Deuce was waiting, having gone off a while ago to wait for them. They were all tired and feeling crappy. The second they closed and locked the door behind them, Sabo's scar reopened and started bleeding. The other two helped him walk to the area Deuce had put some blankets down. They would be thrown away later, as they would have blood stains that could not be washed out. Ace and Luffy helped Sabo as he gasped for air. His death always happened quickly for some reason, even though it was way too long the original time it'd killed him.

Ace and Luffy laid down next to him, Ace in the middle. He was terrified of this time, since last time was so bad. It didn't get any worse for the other two, so why him? First came the slow nosebleed and inability to move his body well. The blood began to dribble out of his mouth and ears as he scrunched his eyes closed at the pressure he felt behind his skull.

He had the misfortune to vomit more blood than he usually did, all over his bare chest. He coughed and gasped, unintentionally spraying blood across Deuce's face, though he had luckily taken his mask and shirt off, knowing that sometimes the blood got on him as well. He turned Ace over so he didn't choke on his own blood. It poured out of his mouth as he began to bleed out of his eyes, darkening the world as it spread across his whole eyes.

Ace was clutching Luffy's hand, who was watching with tears in his eyes, face crumpled into misery. Ace wanted to tell him not to look, but he couldn't through the hacking. Finally, the light went out of his eyes and he was gone as Luffy started gasping for air that came but wouldn't help.

Deuce moved to Luffy to hold and comfort him, rubbing his back and whispering words of encouragement. Even though his reset was the least painful and drawn out, it was only made worse by the things he saw before his own reset began. Deuce sat with Luffy in his arms, staring up at the ceiling with empty eyes, and he closed them for him.

Luffy always reset with his eyes open. He gently laid the last brother down and brought the bucket of water over with rags and started to wipe away the blood that was covering Ace's face, neck and chest. Sabo had blood around his sides and stomach. He wiped up the eldest of the three and wrung out the bloody water from the rags.

He hid his presence, and covered the boys with another blanket, as he sat against the wall with his head in his hands, all night long until the morning when they both woke up, all looking ill and exhausted. Ace held Luffy, like he usually did after a reset, while Sabo rubbed his back. "I'm sorry, Lu. I don't know why it's getting worse. I wish you wouldn't watch."

"I can still hear it. Choking and vomiting, sometimes crying," Luffy mumbled against Ace's neck. Ace didn't know he cried, but he shouldn't be surprised since it was always scary and painful. The three stood up, looking nauseous and miserable. Deuce asked what he should do with the blanket.

"We can't keep stealing them or someone will notice," he said. Ace looked around before he saw a hole in the wall. He went to inspect it slowly, wishing they were in bed. It was a deep hole, so he said that they could stuff it in there. Deuce did so and then moved a barrel to in front of it, blocking the sight. No one would see it. He then poured bleach on the floor, something he'd collected that morning. The smell of blood would be gone.

They all left the brig, keeping an eye out for anyone, but they made it to the stairs, looking ill but not with a drop of blood on them or their clothes. They passed a few people who looked at them in almost worry.

They entered their room and the three flopped onto their beds and fell asleep immediately, Luffy on the same bed with Ace.

"How'd it go?" Jojo asked from her bunk. They'd all been waiting for their family members. Deuce sighed and told her about Ace's drawn out reset. "Why is he getting worse?" she asked in concern.

"I think it's that he's staying awake longer, so the effects go on for a longer time. Even if he was asleep, afterwards there is still blood seeping out of his mouth. He's just not choking on it while in reset. I think it's psychological. He wants to stay awake for Luffy, but it just makes it worse for him," the blue haired man explained. "I'm going to bed, too. Wake me if they do," and he passed out on his own bed.

Not much later, there was a soft knock on the door and Finamore opened it slowly to see Thatch there, holding a tray of various things. He didn't wait for anyone in the room to talk before he did. "I heard Ace, Sabo and Luffy were looking sick, so I brought some pain pills. For nausea, headaches, stomach problems, general pain, and sleep pills. And some water, too," he explained with a smile.

Jojo came to the doorway and looked at him calculatingly. Then she asked the question, "Why are you nice to us? Why are you nice to them?" It was clear who "them" was.

"I can see you're all good and kind people behind the spike-studded walls you put up. And I want to be friends, so of course I'll be friendly and nice. I want you all to stay, but I also want you to be happy here. So, if you can't leave because of Pops' decision, well, you should have someone who's nice to you. Some don't like you guys because of the rudeness, but I know you're just all stressed and want to leave.

"If you don't trust the pills, I can take some to show you they aren't poisoned or anything," he offered. The pirates who were awake were in shock, but said, "No, you don't need to do that. Thank you," Jojo said sincerely, and took the tray before Finamore shut the door and locked it.

The brothers didn't need any of the pills, just sleep. They'd be fine. Pills didn't help, they'd tried that before and nothing happened.

-x-

Marco stared at the blood stained blanket in worry. Namur had smelled it while being in the lowest level with Fossa, the shipwright. It had been crammed and hidden in a hole in the wall. Pops also looked concerned. "Did anyone arrive at the infirmary?" Not that he thought anyone who lost this much blood would still be alive.

"No, and there weren't any dead bodies, obviously," Namur replied. "There was also the smell of bleach thick in the room so I couldn't make out any scents. I have no idea whose blood this is."

Marco saw that it was not completely hard, but there was just a little dampness in it, meaning that this was not an old blanket they'd misplaced some time long ago. This was from very recently.

If he laid it down flat, the blood was in the shape of a torso, while the other huge blood stain was speckled and to the side at the top. But if no one showed any sign of this happening to them, it made no sense.

He didn't even consider the Spades having this happen, as none of them had been in the brig as far as they knew. Plus, Thatch had seen them, they were alive. Anyone that lost this much blood would not be.

It was a horrifying mystery. He wanted to find out.

-x-

"He did what?" Ace asked once he woke up. Luffy was still asleep and clinging to him while Sabo sat across from them on his own bunk, surprised as well. To hear that Thatch had said things that nice despite them all being complete asses to him just didn't make sense. They didn't know people that would act like that. Even Luffy got irate if someone was repeatedly mean to him for no reason.

"Yeah. We were surprised, too. He seems like the only genuinely good person on this ship. It makes me feel bad now for being mean. Even after he lets me use the kitchen," Jojo said, guilt in her voice.

Ace and Sabo had no reply to that. "We can't get attached, Jojo," Deuce said, speaking up. "Don't we want to go home?" Jojo nodded, of course they wanted to go home. "I… I don't want them to reset in there again. It felt like a morgue. And it was cold and a horrible place even if you _didn't_ go through what they go through."

The two conscious brothers hadn't liked it either. Ace especially. It had been too dark, too hard. He didn't get physically cold but it gave off a cold feeling. It was an effective place to jail someone and pummel their morale.

"I want to go back to the PoS. I want to sail the seas, free again. I like being captain, and going where we choose to. If we had to serve under someone else, we wouldn't get to choose where to go or what to do," Sabo said, Ace agreeing fully. Luffy woke up, and Deuce got ready to manage the panic attack with Ace and Sabo.

After Luffy was calm again, they caught him up on the new developments. "I don't want to be mean to him anymore," he said simply. Ace felt the same, weary with playing the ultimate asshole in the group. He still wasn't happy at all with the situation, but he didn't have the energy to be mean to Thatch.

And was there even any point? At this point, it was obvious they couldn't do anything to get him to hate them. Maybe… maybe he could be the exception. "I don't trust anyone else. I don't want to be friendly to anyone else, but I need a break, even if it's just to not be mean to one more person."

The others felt guilt at Ace being put in this position because of his past and the guilt over it. The guilt over being a bad brother when Luffy needed him to be the opposite. He still cried in private sometimes over the guilt. The guilt of hurting him when he needed Ace most. Berating him about crying about the death of their brothers. And then leaving him alone in the world, to eventually drown.

Luffy hugged him, and Ace hugged him back. "We'll be nice to Thatch," he said decisively. The Spades nodded, now going to be assholes to one less person. Out of around 1,600 people, one person might not make much, but he was also one of the pirates they saw the most. The most reoccurring.

Saber looked at his watch. "It's lunch time, if we want to go to Thatch, he should head out in an hour or so once the majority have left the galley. The guy seems to live in the kitchen. Though it's not surprising since Jojo does that, too."

"I am passionate about my role," she said simply. "I can understand why he does that, too."

Luffy beamed and exclaimed, "Jojo and Thatch should have a cook-off!" Ace and Sabo agreed, but Jojo wasn't having it. She wasn't going to waste food like that. "But we'd eat it anyway. Besides, you're the better chef anyways," Luffy added. Jojo smiled, and said, "Maybe. We'll see."

They left the room to take a shower at the biggest bathhouse, and sank in. "This is a very big bath," Ace said. It was like a pool, not a bath. It seemed it could fit at least 50 people while they couldn't fit more than one person in their bath or small shower.

"Wow, what a remarkable observation, Ace," Sabo said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Sabo. I was just saying," Ace grumbled with pink cheeks. Luffy giggled, but started to flounder in the deep end, and Sabo was there instantly. But Luffy was breathing quickly, panicking. They all realized that he had started to drown, losing his ability to stay afloat just like when he'd drowned the first time.

Sabo moved Luffy's hair out of his face. "Don't worry, Lu. We'll never let anything like that happen again," he assured his little brother. Luffy slowly regained composure and nodded. They were bathing at the shallow end, Luffy sitting beside Ace, both useless by their fruits' weakness.

Jojo, of course, didn't bathe with the men, even though she said she had no problem with it and was almost angry when they insisted she use the women's tub. She shouted profanities at them while being alone in the girl's bath, which was separated by a wall that didn't quite reach the ceiling.

The bath was just what they'd needed to feel relaxed, even if it wouldn't last too long. After a good hour, their skin was pruned, and Jojo had fallen asleep. They had to bang on her door, and she shouted at them angrily and dressed. "It's not fair I have to be isolated when you all get to be in the same place."

"Some of us aren't comfortable seeing you naked," Deuce rationalized.

"Cause I'm a woman?"

"Yeah." It was obvious that was the reason. She still was angry, but it dissipated rather quickly. They headed to the kitchen, glad to see everyone was mostly gone. Only a few commanders at the table. They ignored them and walked to the bar counter and sat down, not surprised to see Thatch.

"Hey! You three feelin' better?" Thatch asked, doing inventory but looking over to smile.

Luffy nodded. "We only needed sleep. But thanks for being nice."

"Of course! I'm the nicest pirate you'll ever meet," Thatch bragged. "You hungry? We have a lot of chicken right now if Jojo wants to cook with that. I also found a box of bread crumbs for any breaded chicken. They aren't expired, I thought they would be, but they've not been open." The brothers thought that sounded very yummy.

Jojo stood up and went into the kitchen and washed her hands. When she turned around Thatch was holding an apron. "It's fitted for a guy, but it's the smallest one we have if you want to use this one. It's clean, we washed it beforehand." Jojo gave him a rare smile and thanked him, putting the apron on. The tie was too long so she tied it around in the front.

He got out the chicken for her and the bread crumbs before leaving her to her devices. Before he left, Luffy asked if Thatch wanted a cook-off with her. Jojo didn't protest, even though she heard. Thatch's face lit up.

"Sure, that sounds fun," he replied. "How about after dinner and we can see who makes the best dessert?" Jojo nodded, accepting the conditions for the challenge.

The male chef was beaming as he left the room.

That night, after food, which the Spades ate later than everyone else, they sat at the bar counter with Jojo and Thatch getting out their ingredients. Thatch was using chocolate for something. They weren't allowed to look at each other's cooking.

They both worked quickly, moving fluidly around the kitchen without once losing their concentration but also not running into one another. The cook-off took over an hour and the Spades were either napping or playing cards.

Once they were both done, around the same time, the desserts were placed in front of them. "Mine is a strawberry cake roll, though I changed it from regular cake to sponge cake and added more than the recipe said to," she explained. Thatch accused her of cheating by looking at a recipe. But it wasn't in a mean way. "The recipe is up here," she said pointing to her head.

Thatch conceded and said that his was a chocolate layer cake with blackberry buttercream. All of them took a bite of Thatch's first, which was wonderful. Jojo said it was delicious, and Thatch beamed. Then they tried Jojo's. The sponge cake melted in their mouths and the strawberry filling made their mouths water.

"Now, be honest. Vote on whose is better. If it's not mine, then say that," she said in a strict voice. Saber, Deuce and Luffy liked Thatch's, while the rest voted for Jojo's. Then they all ate the rest. Thatch ate more of Jojo's than his own, which the other cook mirrored.

By the end, everyone knew they'd throw up if they ate any more sweets. "Well that was delicious. Will you write me down the recipe to memorize?" Jojo asked while both she and Thatch cleaned the kitchen up.

"If you give me yours. I've never made sponge cake like that. Can you really memorize so easily?" he asked in awe, wiping the counters down while Jojo put all of the silverware back in their places.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good at memorizing. And I can tell what ingredients are in the food I taste," the female chef said. Thatch clearly didn't believe her. It made sense, since the Spades thought it was crazy as well. "The spiced apple cider you gave us had apple cider, nutmeg, brown sugar, cinnamon, some orange juice - no pulp - and a few cloves. I couldn't tell at what heat, I'm not that good. I'm not sure with how much of each ingredient there was in it, but I'm sure I could replicate it with some experimenting."

Thatch was looking at her with a baffled look on. "Teach me your ways." Jojo laughed, and so did the Spades.

"Our chef is good, huh?" Ace asked with a proud smirk. "And guess what? She's self-taught." Jojo nodded, and took the apron off before going to sit with her crew.

The Whitebeard chef (no longer seen as the enemy) was impressed. "I was self-taught, too. I taught all of our sous chefs."

Sabo asked, "You mean the ones that leave a mess everywhere? Did you not teach them to be clean?" Thatch laughed and agreed. "If you join, you can be my sous chef."

Jojo glared at him. "You would be _my_ sous chef. And we're not joining."

Luffy laughed. "Ace and Sabo are both captains, why can't there be two head chefs? But we're not staying, so it's all hippotical."

"Hypothetical, Lu," Sabo corrected.

"Yeah, that."

Thatch grinned and said, "We'll see. Whatever happens, it's nice to cook with someone who's as good as I am." Jojo pointed at her crew and said, "These idiots would burn down my kitchen. I don't trust any of them to help me cook, so I'm used to being by myself. Though I've never mass produced food. Lucky I only got 9 of them."

Thatch really was a good guy. It was hard to believe he was okay with abduction, though. But, he couldn't defy his captain. Sometimes the Spades argued with Ace and Sabo, but they were sure Whitebeard wouldn't accept any of his crew to disagree with him. He was a yonko, their orders were absolute.

Well, Shanks was a yonko and his first mate told him what to do and confiscated the booze once he got too drunk. Maybe it was different for everyone.

It was nice to have a break, distracted about the fact they were prisoners and getting further and further away from their injured ship. They were scared of what would be left, if anything. There seemed to be no plan to backtrack, and if they went back and their ship had been picked clean or torn apart, then Ace would light the Moby Dick on fire, pirates on it or not.


	7. The Truth Comes Out Part 1

**OtakuPie: Too much cake lol**

**Trying_To_Be_Happy: No response cause I can't figure out the emojis lol.**

#### Shadow22739: You shall be satisfied with this chapter. I like making the death really intense. I wrote another reset one where Ace gets sick and it's just as bad. Mwahaha. 

* * *

**And here we are! The chapter where the truth comes out! It's bloody and gory. It's two parts. Enjoy~**

* * *

When Ace woke the next day, he was a bit disoriented about where he was before he remembered their situation. He sighed and turned on his other side, staring at the wall. Today wasn't going to be a good day, he could already tell. He felt tense, tight, stressed. He moved his head to pop his neck.

He turned to see Sabo with a blank stare as he looked on the wood floor, a small frown on. Ace had a feeling Luffy would feel the same way today. It was a day they'd spend alone, maybe out on deck as long as people left them alone.

Since they had no change of clothes, they didn't want to stink them up, so all of their clothes besides underwear were in the pile in the middle of the room. Even Jojo was in her bra and underwear, under the covers. The two captains had always felt her attitude was funny but in some ways uncomfortable.

Multiple times, she'd been sleeping and was so tired she just left her room in her underwear when she went to cook breakfast. More than once she'd been found in her underwear and an apron. She just didn't care, so the men tried not to care either. They got used to it eventually, though they all were in their clothes, and when Jojo was alerted that she was not, she'd leave to go change, not saying a word about it when getting back.

Luffy woke up next, and curled into a ball on the bed, the only sign that he'd woken up. He pulled the covers over his head, pretending he was in his room. Under the warm blankets, his favorite pillow. He didn't want to leave the blanket and see that he was not of the PoS.

Slowly, everyone awoke, and just stayed in bed. No one said a thing, even when all of them were awake. Something was only said when Deuce told Ace, "Your nose, Ace." They all looked and Ace touched under his nose to see it was bleeding. Luffy started coughing, hard, and Sabo moaned from a pinching feeling in his stomach.

Ace wiped his bloody nose, but it didn't stop. But, nothing else started to bleed. Sabo was looking at his scar, but it wasn't opening up to bleed. Luffy kept his gaze away from Ace, not wanting to see blood on his face and have a panic attack. He had stopped coughing and wheezing. "Everyone okay?" Finamore asked in worry.

The brothers each collectively gulped, and said, "Mmhmm," in tight voices.

It was a bad day. They didn't go out on deck once. They didn't leave the room unless they had to use the bathroom. No one acknowledged that something was wrong. All the boys felt like crap, and slept for as much of the day as they could. They were scared, very scared. It had been the same for seven years. It was bad enough having it happen every two weeks, they didn't even want to think if they showed symptoms anytime other than the usual days.

By the time Ace got up, there was a small puddle of blood on his blanket from the light nosebleeds he was getting. Luckily for him, it didn't hurt. Sabo's hurt, and Luffy's was scary. He was wheezing for a lot of the day, and Sabo was curled up with his knees to his chest, the pain in his stomach making him scrunch his eyes up.

Deuce finally left after Luffy started crying. He went to the infirmary, and collected lots of gauze for Ace's nose bleeds, pain pills for Sabo, and he got a bag and stole an inhaler for Luffy. He brought his spoils back to the room and gave out the supplies. He taught Luffy how to use the inhaler, which hadn't been used before, and Sabo took the pills while Ace stuffed the gauze up his nostrils.

Jojo and Aggie 68 left the room to get all of the food, not that the three had appetites. They were scared about what was going to happen next. Change was scary. It had been so normal to reset every two weeks and be healthy in the time between.

Eventually, though, the symptoms stopped and they felt relatively good. Ace wiped the crusty blood off and Luffy took some nice calm breaths. "Why don't we go get some fresh air?" Sabo offered. Luffy and Ace accepted, and asked if they could have some time to themselves. They didn't need to ask, two of them were the captains, but they didn't want to hurt any of the others' feelings.

They had no problem and Jojo wanted to go to the kitchen while Deuce and Aggie 68 went to the library and the others to the training room they'd found but hadn't tried out yet. After all, they could go wherever they wanted. Even if they were prisoners, the Whitebeards wanted them to join. So who would stop them from doing whatever the hell they wanted?

The three brothers headed through the ship and out on deck, going to the back of the ship. The hole Ace had burned was gone, though it was clear the wood had been replaced since the newer parts were lighter than the surrounding wood.

They sat right at the railing, staring out at the sea longingly, wanting to be free again. Luffy leaned against Ace one one side and Sabo did the other. They all collectively sighed at the same time. "I feel like a kid again. I don't like it," Ace said quietly.

The other two knew what he meant and felt the same. They felt trapped and longed to be free. "When will they let us go home?" Luffy asked quietly.

"Maybe once they see us reset they won't want us anymore," Sabo replied in a monotone voice. "I don't want them to know, but I bet if they did, they'd kick us off the ship. Probably not take us back, though. It's been weeks since we were last there. I'm starting to think we won't be on the PoS in a long time, if ever. They may hold us indefinitely until they've broken our spirits and we agree to stay."

Ace looked at his blonde brother. "Jeez, Sabo. I thought I was pessimistic." Sabo let out a small chuckle. "But you have a point. They'll find out sooner or later. Whatever happens then, I don't know."

Jojo came out eventually and sat down next to them. Luffy turned to see she'd brought out ingredients for s'mores. That was something they did when they were younger, before the first reset. On one of their birthdays, they'd go to Goa or Foosha village to buy marshmallows, crackers and chocolate in mass. They took the funding out of their pirate stash. Jojo knew this was comfort food, and they thanked her.

She left them to roast marshmallows over Ace's hand and eat the smores. There wouldn't be any room left for dinner at that pace. But they didn't care, anything to make them feel better at that moment.

Ace eventually got another bloody nose, and Luffy had a cough. Sabo didn't show any symptoms, which was alarming. They all reset on the same day, they didn't want that to change. Well, they might be safer if they did it on different days, who knows. They just didn't want any more change. This was already getting to be too much.

They'd crack under the pressure of their stress and wishing to go home. The Whitebeards were making it worse the longer they refused to take them home. One of them would snap and really hurt someone, and then they'd be killed. Pirates will be pirates. They had already long since decided that Whitebeard was, in fact, not a decent man. Sabo had been wrong.

And what the hell were they doing? You'd think, if they wanted the three to stay, they'd be trying harder to get to know them. Was Thatch their spokesperson? They wanted them enough to kidnap them, but not enough to want to get to know them? What was the point of this?

Tears dripped down their faces, all three of them. Hope was slipping away at an alarming pace.

They didn't eat dinner that night. They lied, and said it was the smores that filled them up, but they were too upset to eat anything. It had been a very bad day.

-x-

Thatch tried to be friends with them, but the brothers had withdrawn. They didn't want to leave the room, didn't want to talk to anybody. Their crew was worried about them. Luffy had to use the inhaler often, and Sabo was downing pain pills when he could. Ace had gauze in his nose a lot.

With every symptom showing up, morale sunk lower and lower. Deuce said that things might be getting worse for them due to stress. Which meant that the Whitebeards were harming their health. Some _family_ they wanted to be. What were they doing?! What was the point of all of this?!

Ace screamed into his pillow, Luffy cried into the blankets, Sabo ripped the sheets apart.

-x-

Deuce searched the ship for Marco. Ace, Sabo and Luffy were getting worse. Every day they got further from the PoS, every time they were declined to leave, more symptoms showed up. He was sure that they would reset early if the stress continued. Their bodies were suffering with their minds.

The Whitebeards needed to let them go. Soon, they had to get back home. They needed to get back to a place they felt safe and secure, and it definitely wasn't here. He found Marco in his office, in a place that was clearly not meant for anyone unimportant to be in.

He walked in unannounced and closed the door behind him. "You need to let us go," he said, and Marco turned around to look at him with a bored look. "Your actions are causing them extreme stress and it's affecting their health."

Marco looked surprised. "Their health? Aren't they just moping?" Deuce looked at him in incredulity.

"You apologized to us. Have you changed at all? You don't do anything but get mad at them when they don't cooperate. I don't know what your definition of family is, but it's quite different than ours. Take us back," Deuce said strongly.

Marco sighed. "I can't do that unless Pops says so. And he sees something in them and wants to keep them."

"Your 'Pops's' order will kill all three of them," Deuce said bluntly. Marco looked baffled.

"Kill?" he asked in disbelief. "Aren't you being dramatic? Stress doesn't kill you like this." Deuce was completely serious. His face showed that. "Do they have underlying health conditions?"

"Yes."

"I assume you won't tell me? Maybe our nurses could help them, we have very advanced medical equipment. I'm sure we can help treat them," Marco reasoned.

Deuce was still glaring. "I won't tell you. It's none of your business. Besides, you've never come across anything like their sickness before. It's none of your business, but you need to know what you're doing is counter productive. Everyday it gets worse for them. Why can't you understand that they don't want this? You are forcing them to stay with you when they truly don't want to. It's wrong. Are the rest of you here because of Stockholm syndrome or something?"

Marco stared at him for a few seconds, clearly trying to figure out what Deuce meant. His face gave nothing away, so Marco sighed. "What can we do to make them feel welcomed? We want you all to stay."

Deuce scoffed, shaking his head. "I've told you multiple times! They don't want to be here! I don't care if _you_ want it, they need to get off before something goes seriously wrong!"

"Please, tell me what would happen. Maybe we have a remedy for it," Marco insisted, now sounding worried, concerned. "Maybe we can stop it, treat them for it."

Deuce put his hand to his head, taking deep breaths of frustration. "The remedy is a safe and secure place. That is not here. It will be _your_ fault when something goes wrong. because I warned you, and you still didn't do anything to help. If you really actually cared about them, you'd do what they want and let them be free. I have nothing left to say when you won't accept anything I say." He turned and left the room, slamming the door shut. He punched a hole in the wall, _hard._

This was ridiculous. If only they'd been able to fight them off, kept them from being taken, then they wouldn't be suffering like this. Tears of guilt gathered in his eyes, and he shut them tightly, trying to banish them. He didn't want them to reset early. He knew first hand how terrifying it was for them, how painful. And being here, the stress and uncertainty, were exacerbating things.

They already had to reset in the fucking brig once. It was a mess that could so easily be cleaned up. If the Whitebeards let them go home. But Deuce wasn't an optimist at heart. He had a feeling they would never be on the Piece of Spadile again. The ship was broken and washed upon the beach. They needed to start over. Their money was on that ship. They had none with them that could even come close to purchasing a new ship.

Ships in the New World were easily double the price in Water 7. Only a couple weeks ago, the brothers had been so happy, things so normal. They were themselves, not these shells that didn't want to go anywhere or do anything but lay in bed. He hadn't known stress would do this to them, but it was getting worse.

He knew, he did, that they would reset sooner than usual. Whatever happened after _that,_ Deuce, and all of them, didn't know.

-x-

A knock on the door was made, and Sabo assumed it was one of their crew, and opened the door. But it was Marco. "What," Sabo said, voice heavy and eyes empty. He asked to talk, and Sabo let him inside. Ace didn't even hide the bloody gauze on the nightstand, or the pill bottle on Sabo's, or the inhaler on Luffy's pillow. Marco looked at all of it with confused eyes.

"Are you guys sick?" he asked, concern coloring his voice.

Sabo stared at him, not going to answer. Marco sighed once he got the jist, that they weren't going to answer. "What can we do to make you feel better other than taking you back?"

"Do you know what happens if you put a fish in a tiny bowl?" Sabo asked, arms crossed and eyebrows set. Marco didn't answer. "They become stressed. And die."

Marco asked, "Why do you all throw around 'death' like it happens so easily? You're humans, this is a big ship where you can go anywhere on. You don't _have_ to stay in your room. You can go out and get fresh air, eat when you want. You're not fish in a tiny bowl."

Ace spoke up. "Get the fuck out. You're not going to take us seriously. You're not going to listen to what we say and want. Just get out and stop wasting our time." But Marco held his ground. He said that he just wanted them to be happy. "Yeah, well there's only one way you can make us happy. Let us go home. Let us go back to our lives. We were _happy!_ We had achieved our dream that we've had our whole lives. And you stole that away from us and are acting like that's not a big deal!" he ranted, and Luffy started crying into his pillow, gasping for air and Sabo hurried to him and helped him use the inhaler.

Ace's nose bled again.

"We're stopping at an island soon. You can take a break from the ship there and we'll give you spending money," Marco insisted. Ace got up and kicked him out of the room.

"Fuck off," he said in a hard, cold voice and slammed the door shut, locking it. Tears poured down his cheeks, tears of hopelessness and fear. He couldn't protect his brothers, who were wilting along with him. They were going to reset and it would be a bad one. Ace was afraid of the pain he'd experience. He was scared of what would happen, because they didn't know what would happen.

Everything had been so steady, constant and now everything had changed for the worse. Letting the rest of the Spades on the ship had been a temporary remedy and hadn't changed much. They were still trapped, but now they were just trapped together.

It was hopeless. They wished they were strong enough to break off of this ship. But they weren't and they didn't have the resources to escape. Ace went back to laying on the bed.

-x-

"What do you mean?"

Marco repeated, "All of the Spades are saying that Ace, Sabo and Luffy will die soon unless we let them off. I believe them, Pops. They say it so seriously. Shanks said this, too. I think we're wrong, and we should take them back to their ship." Whitebeard was shocked. Surely no health problems could be so drastic as this! Dying? They weren't animals in captivity. They weren't trapped in a tiny space.

"I wish for them to stay, but I want them to be happy. I thought they would get used to us slowly if we left them alone. They'd branch out. They did with Thatch. If we can all bond with them, then they will realize they'd want to stay here. Thatch said that they joke around a lot when no one is around," Whitebeard said.

Marco shook his head. "Pops, they're sick already. Ace has a huge pile of bloody gauze from constant nose bleeds. They stole an inhaler for Luffy, and Sabo has a bottle of pain pills by his bed. We are wrong in this. I've tried to talk to them, reason that they could be happy and didn't need to be confined to their room."

Whitebeard was quite concerned. "I'll go speak with them now." Marco followed as they made their way back to the room the Spades were given.

-x-

Ace's nose bled heavier, and his head started to pound. Sabo was whimpering from the pain in his gut, and Luffy was wheezing. They were going to reset soon, they had to make it to the brig. But they had so much further to go.

To their dismay, they ran into Thatch, who was carrying a tray of hot chocolate to take to them. "Hey, guys! Whoa, are you okay?" the chef asked in worry. Sabo asked for him to get Deuce, and to hurry. Thatch nodded, and put down the tray to run off to find Deuce.

The three continued to head for the stairs, and for the first time in a long, long time, they were not comfortable when it started. Sabo screamed, cursing vibrantly as his stomach began to bleed.

"God motherfukcing damnit!" Ace screamed. Then, two people they definitely didn't want to see came. "Guys! Are you alright?" Marco asked in worry.

Ace turned around furiously and spit out, "This is your fault!" with a huge spray of blood, that sprayed all over the floor. Sabo had collapsed, and he was dead. Luffy was screaming and crying as Ace lost control of his body and slammed into the flood headfirst, blood darkening his surroundings.

Then Deuce was there. He pulled Luffy in and propped Ace up in one arm. "It's okay, you'll be okay," he insisted, but Ace went to talk and only spit blood all over Deuce's face as he convulsed blood building up in his throat. He couldn't hear anymore other than the screams the blood in his ears were dulling.

Luffy began to wheeze and Ace was dead, the last thing he saw was Deuce crying. Luffy grabbed at his throat as he suffocated, and Deuce cradled him, "Shh, you'll be okay. Luffy, you'll be okay, don't be scared," he said, and then the light in Luffy's eyes were gone, and again, Deuce had to close his eyes for him.


	8. The Truth Comes Out Part 2

**chickie434: No going back now.**

**Shadow22739: Things don't look too well for the Spades in some ways, while better in others. This chapter has a lot of stuff happen.**

**SlyRiddle21: Thank you! I should do cliffhangers more often, I get so many reviews lol.**

**Ferna52: Mwahahaha.**

**Trying_To_Be_Happy: You shall find out soon!**

**Lei_Z: And I made it EXTRA bloody and graphic, too!**

**Vale32: I love them as long as I'm the one writing them, lol.**

**purpleOPlovers: The wait is over.**

**OtakuPie: They suffer so much. but I love making them do it!**

**Anime_Moonoo: There's still much of the story for things to get better or worse!**

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**Holy crap those are a lot of comments! Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger, but I didn't keep you waiting** **_too_ ** **long. And now I have 6 stories waiting to be posted. Too long, too much to edit! I'm drowning myself by writing and not editing! Anyways, hopefully this chapter is satisfying. Enjoy~**

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Marco, Thatch and Pops were all shocked and horrified with the scene before them. Three dead kids, and huge puddles of blood all over the floor and their bodies. Sabo was laying on his stomach, eyes closed with blood seeping from under him, staining his clothes. Ace's face and neck were completely covered in dark blood. Luffy was the only one who had not died in a gruesome way.

"I fucking _told you,_ " Deuce snarled. The pirates were horrified, and Thatch was crying. Deuce, the only Spade there, propped Luffy onto his back to piggy back, and grabbed Ace and Sabo in his arms. He was bent over to keep Luffy on his back, as he headed down the hall and back to their room. They didn't need to wake up being ogled by people who shouldn't have seen this.

Whitebeard and Marco moved out of his way, and he brought his captains and Luffy's body to their beds. He laid Luffy down on his before bringing Sabo to his own. Last came Ace, who was gently set onto his bed as well.

Deuce left to go get water and towels. The Spades had come, and saw their crewmember covered in blood. "Did they-?" Jojo asked.

"Yeah. In front of the ones at fault. Help me get some water to clean them up," the blue haired man said. He said nothing of the blood that covered him. His mask was ruined, but that didn't matter much at the moment.

Marco was there. "Wh-what the hell happened to them?" he asked in a panicked voice. Good, he felt remorse. It was his fault they had to go through this early. It couldn't be permanent, but what would happen next?

"You're so fucking lucky, Marco, or I would murder you _right now._ Along with your asshole captain. Get the fuck out of my way, I need to clean them up," he said, not giving Marco any answers. Jojo ran down the hall and came back with towels. The others had buckets of water, and Deuce took some of the buckets as they all hurried back to their room.

"Wait!" Whitebeard called, regret and confusion in his voice. The door was slammed before they got inside. Deuce hoped they felt guilt, hoped they thought Ace, Sabo and Luffy were dead for good.

Jojo was crying, and they all cleaned up Ace and Sabo. Their clothes were stained in blood. There was no time to take them off this time. After their skin was free of blood, they peeled off their clothes.

After they were clean enough, Deuce unlocked the door and walked out, closing it quickly so they couldn't look at their bodies.

"Please, Deuce, what happened to them?" Marco begged, and Thatch was silently crying. "How did that happen so suddenly?"

The enemy pirate looked at them with a blank expression. "It's been slowly happening for the last two days. We tried to tell you, get you to understand. But you didn't and they have to suffer because of your inability to have any form of empathy. This is your fault."

Whitebeard looked upset with what Deuce was saying, that he was blaming them for the boys' deaths. And it _was_ their fault. Completely. They were set to reset not even that week. "I'm sorry," Thatch stuttered. Deuce shot him a kind look.

"You're the only one not to be blamed," he said, and Thatch looked surprised. Then he turned back to the two he did blame. "They will wake up. Should wake up tomorrow. You don't deserve an explanation." Marco begged him for one. The Spade pirate shook his head, not sure if he should say anything. But they'd pester the brothers for answers once they woke up again.

He leaned back against the door. "It started seven years ago. Each of them died, Sabo first, then Ace and finally Luffy. Sabo was stabbed, Ace caught a gruesome disease and Luffy drowned. Then they woke up, and every two weeks they 'reset'. They die again for a while and then wake up. They've already gone through it once on this ship. This wasn't supposed to happen for another week, but the stress you people put them under made it happen sooner," Deuce explained, leaving no time for questions.

"Did you use the brig?" Marco asked, and Deuce nodded.

Thatch was frowning. "Why didn't you tell us? We'd have let them use the mattresses in the infirmary. Having plastic sheeting on it should protect the sheets from blood. And we could have used anesthesia so they didn't go through any pain," the chef said, eyebrows furrowed.

Deuce was in shock by the chef's response, and the other two not disputing him. "We're sorry, we didn't know. If we knew we would have done anything to make them comfortable," Marco said, sounding sincere.

He sighed. "Even if you accept them after this, they will still not want to be here. Your plan isn't going to work. Haven't you done enough damage already?" Deuce asked softly, before entering the room and shutting the door, locking it for good measure.

The pirates waited in there for the rest of the day, not knowing when they'd wake up since the schedule was all fucked up. Their bodies were completely still, mouths all open a tiny bit from their last breath, or gasp of air.

It was nine hours later, at around 2 AM that Sabo stirred, gasping in air and looking around frantically. They were in the room. Did that mean they made it here without anyone seeing the reset? Well, they were still on the ship, that was for sure. If anyone saw their resets, then they would have been kicked off the ship.

Ace woke next, a moan coming from his voice as his throat was rubbed raw. Opening his eyes, he saw everyone was in the room, and much of the floor was covered in blood. So was Deuce, and his clothes. His mask even had red spots, and Ace felt guilt over that. The mask was special to him.

Luffy woke last, jerking up, and then curling into a ball to try and keep his sobs in. Ace sat up and wobbled over, stepping over the pirates on the floor. He sat on Luffy's bed and curled around him, putting his hand on Luffy's forehead and whispering quiet, happy things. Reminding him of happy memories until he calmed down.

Sabo stood up and walked around his crew and the bloodstained clothes, as both Ace and Sabo were in their underwear since their bottoms got bloody as well, and opened the door a crack. It was very early morning. The hall lights were off but a few nightlights periodically. He almost stepped on what was sitting right outside the door, on the floor.

It was a tray, and he picked it up to take it inside. He took it to the nearest bed and Ace lit his shoulders on fire to light the room without turning on the light. It was a tray with a pot of cold tea with three cups. Pain medication, fresh roll of gauze, pain cream. Ace peeked out of the doorway to see there was something on the side of the door. He pulled it in and saw it was a ventilator.

"What is this supposed to be, a peace offering?" Ace hissed. Sabo shrugged and set it on the bed.

"This means we definitely reset in front of them," Sabo said quietly, putting his head in his hands.

Luffy looked sad, wishing he could be Sabo, be the one to go first. "It was really bad this time. There was blood e-everywhere. Ace was screaming at them, got blood all over Deuce," Luffy whispered. Ace hugged him, apologizing for freaking out in front of him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, I was so angry. Am so angry. This wouldn't have happened if they just let us go," Ace grumbled. Sabo stood up, and said he wanted to take a bath. Of course, Ace and Luffy went with him, and they left the room, leaving a note on the table for if the Spades woke up.

They walked in almost complete darkness, but were used to conditions like this, or stormy nights back on Dawn Island, there weren't exactly street lamps in the jungle. They found the large door that was for the bathhouse and all walked in, closing the door quietly behind them.

The bath was already full of water, so they didn't make any noise as they all slid into the water. Ace rested his head back in the water so he could get any blood crusted into his hairline. They weren't exactly dirty, but usually bathed or showered after a reset. Especially a real bloody one. Why did Ace's have to be the worst? Though he didn't wish pain on his brothers. Luffy went through the most emotional pain. Sabo was the real lucky one.

They relaxed in the dark room in silence, none of them mentioning their thoughts, the fear from having the reset happen when it wasn't supposed to. Luckily, they were all alive and as they usually were after a reset. They didn't know what time it was, but by the time they left the bath, Ace and Sabo were still only in underwear as Luffy was clothed, the sun had started to rise. They were still going to sleep all day, like usual.

The three entered the room silently, disguising their presences so they didn't wake their sleeping crewmembers. They were really tired to not wake from the three brothers speaking. Sabo got into his bed and Ace and Luffy shared Luffy's, which had no blood on it. Ace had his face facing Luffy and they all fell asleep easily.

-x-

Deuce woke up in the morning to see Ace and Luffy had moved, and there was a tray of various things and a ventilator laying on the bed Ace had previously occupied. They were under the covers, and Sabo was facing the wall, also under the blanket. He stood up and groaned quietly. He'd fallen asleep on the floor, as had Saber, Jojo and Ducky Bee.

There was a tray on the bed that Ace had, which was stained with blood, and it had pain medicine and pain cream. And some tea. He sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. Would the pirates now try to be understanding or something? He'd need to tell the brothers the reaction that Thatch and Marco showed.

But he'd wait for them to wake up. He looked down and saw he had blood on himself, dried. There was even some on his mask, which saddened him. But Ace didn't mean to. He hadn't coughed up blood that it sprayed before, but he also never was screaming during a reset. Poor Ace and Luffy. Sabo was gone before the fall out happened.

After a few minutes, the others woke up, and they were hungry. But they looked down and saw they were dotted with some blood from cleaning up Ace and Sabo. they did have changes of clothes, some fitting and others not. They didn't cooperate enough to be measured. They changed, Jojo having everyones' back to her while she did so.

Finamore offered to go get food, who was accompanied by Jojo and Aggie 68. The brothers wouldn't be eating anytime soon, so getting them food was pointless. Deuce stayed with them, pulling the blankets higher over Ace and Luffy.

Three hours later, all the food was eaten and plates returned to the kitchen. Word hadn't spread, apparently. No one looked at them strangely. Ace and Sabo woke up first, and then Luffy. They rubbed their eyes, and the older two stood up to change their clothes. Luffy continued to lay on the bed, facing everyone and not the wall.

"Luffy, you should change," Sabo suggested, and the youngest did so slowly, sadly. They didn't want to go outside, but they didn't want to stay cramped in the bedroom. They needed fresh air. So, the whole crew left, and they looked down the hall to see all of the blood had been cleaned up. Well, that was a given. You would never leave a big smeared puddle of blood for long.

They ran into Haruta, the small commander, and he said hello and that was it. "Did they not tell anyone else?" Ace asked, though he couldn't believe those who knew would keep it a secret from the other commanders. They were the important ones on the ship. Then they passed another, having to move to the side in a single file line when Jozu walked past, the largest commander. He didn't look at them strangely, either.

The group headed to the back deck and sat down, either facing the ocean or leaning against the railing. "I'm thinking they won't take us back even with the reset being found out." Then Deuce repeated what Thatch and Marco had said after the reset. The brothers were shocked, and uncomfortable. Confused, as well.

Even some of their crew hadn't been fine with it the first time. Deuce, Saber and Jojo had adapted quickly, but the others had been disturbed by the sight the first few times after they joined.

"I'm not surprised by Thatch, really, but Marco and Whitebeard surprise me. Marco doesn't even like us, why would he be understanding?" Jojo asked, leaning her head back against the railing.

No one had anything to say to that, all agreeing. After a little bit, Ace had a sleep attack, and Luffy caught him before he hit the deck. He snored, and Luffy set him back against the railing. While Ace was sleeping and the others relaxing and silent, all lost in thought, Marco and Thatch came over. They could sense Whitebeard not far, but not in sight. He'd be able to hear them.

"What?" Sabo asked, on the defense already.

Marco and Thatch both sat down a few feet away. "Clearly, we've done a lot of harm to you for taking you on the ship. We would be understanding and accommodating if you have another reset, and we want you to all stay with us willingly. But we've done too much, or maybe not enough. We're going to take you back to your ship. We called the island, and your ship is still beached. She's fallen on her side completely, but with our help, we can repair her and get her back to sea.

"We never meant to harm you, but the stress we've unintentionally put upon you had very bad consequences. Just know we are very happy you three did not die. Permanently. We are sorry," Marco finished, and he and Thatch bowed forward.

Thatch added, "And no one on the ship knows about it besides me, Marco and Pops- Whitebeard."

The Spades were shocked. It wasn't the reaction they were expecting. Well, Deuce wasn't as surprised as the others, but still was a bit. They didn't know what to say back, so they stayed silent. The two commanders stood up and left them in the back deck.

Luffy started to cry, happy tears for the first time in over a month. "We're going home!" he sobbed, and Sabo hugged him, tears in his eyes as well. Ace woke up to Luffy crying and started to freak out before Sabo told him why he was crying.

"Fuck yes," Ace said, leaning back happily, smiling brightly. "Piece of Shit is safe. I can't wait to go home." The others nodded, too, feeling light. Their home was okay, and would be fixed for free! They felt happiness, true happiness and hope that things would go back to how they used to be.

Over the next couple of days, the Whitebeards were clearly confused with the complete 180 the Spades had done, the brothers especially. They were happy, smiling, and joking with one another. Still, they didn't get close to any of the Whitebeards, but they did feel thankful for them going to fix the PoS. They still held a _very_ large grudge with the yonko crew, and it probably wouldn't go away, no matter what they did.

Sabo had a feeling that being nice was possibly a bad idea. What if they changed their minds? What if they saw the true attitude of them all, and decided they wanted to keep them. But he couldn't bring himself to make Ace play the brat again. Luffy was clingy to him and Sabo, too. The blonde was happy with this. He was showing equal attention to him than with Ace.

More than a few times, Sabo made a gloating look to Ace, who scowled. His brother complex was always funny. Luffy was happy, and they were both so happy to see it again.

A problem they found occurring a few days after the change in them, Whitebeards, some of the commanders especially, tried to talk to them a lot. Haruta and Thatch especially, and Marco tried to get on their good side as well. They usually politely declined. But Haruta started pestering them about pulling a prank. They wanted him to go away, so Ace advised him on a prank they'd done to their own crew once.

"Just put footprints on the ceiling and say there's a ghost or something," Ace said a bit dismissively. Haruta asked him how to do that, and where he got that idea from. "We did that to our crew. Do a handstand and cover your feet in baby powder. We have to go, now," Ace said, obviously wanting Haruta to go away, and he finally left, muttering about what's good prank it would be, and he ran to the galley, to none of the Spades' surprise.

They overheard people complain about Thatch and Haruta pulling pranks, sometimes dangerous ones.

They all headed to the bathhouse to bathe, and Jojo insisted she bathe with them and they relented as long as she kept a towel around herself and would leave before the guys got out of the water. She was happy with this and it was only awkward for the Spades besides Luffy, who just didn't care about things like that.

Someone entered while they were in there to use one of the showers, and saw Jojo in the water and fled the scene. Ace burst up into laughter, and the others soon followed. "I definitely wouldn't be allowed to walk around in my underwear if we joined." She sounded sour about it.

They all shook their heads. When they all got out of the bath, Jojo in the other part of the room, and changed, they went to go get food.

Ace hid the pounding in his head. Luffy hid his breathing troubles by taking long deep breaths. Sabo hid the pain in his stomach by clenching his teeth together almost painfully. The three exchanged glances that made them all realize they were feeling ill the same. It scared them, but they didn't want to worry their crew.

All of them were fearful of any change in the routine. The fear lasted the rest of the day, and dampened their moods. It was annoying, but a welcome distraction when Haruta came up to them and begged the brothers to tell him more about the prank. None of them were in the mood to socialize, but maybe not thinking about their illness would be good.

"Fine," Ace said in exasperation. It was late and they were on their way to bed. He told the rest of the crew he'd be back soon, and of course Luffy and Sabo came with him. They were holding hands tightly, now trying to ground themselves by painful pressure on their hands. Luffy used his new inhaler and then stuffed it back in his shorts pocket. Sabo had nothing he could do to remedy his pain. But neither could Ace.

He had a stony face as he felt the blood drip out of his nose. He was angry that people did this to them. Was it permanent? Or was it going to be back to normal when they were off of the ship? They still had weeks to get back.

They all didn't want to deal with the commander anymore. "We change our mind, we're leaving," Ace said, and turned around, his brothers doing the same. Luffy needed another inhaler. Maybe they'd go get the ventilator for him to use, maybe it'd help.

"Why?" Haruta whined.

"Because," Sabo said simply, not knowing what to reply. They turned the corner, and thankfully Haruta didn't follow them. The three hurried down the hall, and got to their room. They each collapsed onto their beds and sighed. Sabo took some pain pills and Jojo helped set Luffy up with the ventilator. They didn't know if it would help.

Ace was just given a rag to wipe his nose on. They were glad when the lights turned off and they all fell asleep. Sabo kept his moans of pain inside, biting on his pillow. Luffy was asleep with assisted breathing, and Ace was bleeding from his mouth, his eyes pink. Luckily no blood was coming from them. It was light bleeding, nothing horrific, but it was still happening.

He fell asleep after Sabo finally did. But none of them reset. That was the only good thing. Resetting was painful and traumatizing each time.


	9. the Effects of Stress

**phoenix: they definitely deserve to go home already.**

**Ferna52: That sucks to feel that way. :( I felt like that too when I hung out with guy friends, but I don't have many friends and that was in high school. I'm super antisocial and the pandemic isn't doing me any favors in making new friends lol.**

**OtakuPie: I put them through hell in so many of my fics lol. And I enjoy it, mwahaha.**

**Shadow22739: Thank you! Yeah, I made them really unlikable in this one. But all the stories I post are already finished. So the editing I complained about are stories I haven't posted yet. I'll never leave anyone hanging. I wish all writers did that. So many fanfictions are just dropped without a word and it really pisses me off tbh.**

**Anime_Moonoo: Yeah, they deserve for things to maybe go back to normal. Whitebeards, you done fucked up this time lol.**

**chickie434: Poor babies. And I can't promise no more cliffhangers. I edited this awhile ago so I don't remember if there are lol.**

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**Everyone should be happy with this chapter. Warning for graphic scene. Enjoy~**

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They woke up, and found that Ace had been cleaned up, his skin blood free. Luffy was still attached to the ventilator, and Sabo was sitting up and taking some pills. There was an assortment of them that weren't there the night before. One of the Spades had gone to get them for him while he slept.

Ace sat up slowly, and looked around. Everyone was there, looking at them in worry. "We didn't reset, don't worry," Ace said. He looked up and asked how Sabo felt.

"I feel fine. We should get Luffy out of that," Sabo said, and walked forward to Luffy's bed and pulled it out of his throat, which he managed to sleep through somehow. Ace felt under his nose, glad there was nothing wet or crusty under it. He could pretend it hadn't happened.

They dragged themselves off the beds and changed, making their bodies go to the galley with all the strength they could muster. They were so tired, like they hadn't slept in weeks. They were dead on their feet, but their stomachs were growling angrily. They got into the dining room, which was filled with people already, and made their ways to the bar counter, where they usually sat, and served themselves food.

All three brothers could barely have the energy to bring their forks to their mouths, and had to prop their elbows up and lean more forward so their arms had less work to do. Once they were done, that just stared at the counter sleepily.

"C'mon, guys. Let's go back to our room," Jojo said encouragingly. They nodded and got off of the stools. Deuce supported Ace while Saber took Sabo and Jojo took Luffy. Stares followed them out but none of them cared, they were taking care of their captains and their brother.

When they got back to their room, the three took another nap, though none seemed in pain. Deuce ventured out to the infirmary, which he had problems with breaking into and taking any medications that could help.

The nurses asked him what he was doing when he entered. Deuce ignored them, and went to their supply of medication to find any meds that clotted blood. It might stop the blood coming out on a day that wasn't a reset. There were no stopping resets. The brothers had tried everything before giving up and accepting that was their life now.

The nurses pestered him, but he was too big and strong for them to even move. He was like a mountain to them. He picked up strong pain medicine and sleeping pills. There was nothing to get for Luffy. He had the ventilator and the inhaler. That was the best they could do.

"Hey! You can't just take stuff from our storage! You have to have the okay from a commander or us!" the head nurse shouted, kicking Deuce's shin. He barely felt it.

"Fine, go ask Marco or Thatch. I'm sure they'd let us have these medications," he said flatly and began to leave before grabbing three sets of crutches. He carried everything back to their room, and put the pain medication on Sabo's tray, along with the sleeping pills. The crutches leaned against the wall near the door.

They were still asleep. It looked to be a peaceful sleep, thankfully. Jojo was looking really agitated the longer the brothers were asleep until she finally announced that she _needed_ to cook. She left the room, closing the door gently behind her.

It was about an hour after Deuce raided the infirmary when there was a soft knock on the door. Ace, Sabo and Luffy were still asleep, though they'd each changed positions in their sleep. Ace snored and Sabo talked in his sleep lightly. Nothing understandable. Deuce opened the door a crack to see Marco there. He left the room, closing the door behind him gently.

"Are they alright?" Marco asked, getting straight to the point.

"To be honest, no, they are not. Forcing their reset early made them sick," he responded coldly, putting all the blame on the Whitebeards. It was their actions that caused his good friends and captains to be ill.

Marco looked worried, and asked if they reset a second time. Deuce shook his head. "Then what's happening? Is there anything anyone can do to help?"

"If _you're_ asking to help, then no, they wouldn't like that. We all rightfully blame you for this," the blue haired man said. Marco winced slightly. "They are showing symptoms. I got medication and supplies for them. We're doing all we can to help them, and your assistance is not needed or welcome." And he went inside the room, leaving Marco standing there and looking guilty. Good, he should be.

Sabo had woken when Deuce opened the door, and was reading the log he'd made on a piece of scratch paper, about when he was able to safely take pills. He didn't use the sleep medicine yet, but he did take some of the light pain pills. He wasn't in agony anymore, so he didn't feel the need to take something stronger. Ace and Luffy were still sleeping.

"How are you feeling?" Aggie 68 asked quietly.

"Not normal exactly, but not in much pain. I think I need some fresh air," he replied honestly. Aggie 68, being the biggest of them, took Sabo. He didn't take the crutches since he could just lean on or be carried by the large crew member.

Sabo ignored the looks, assuming he looked sick. He was a bit sweaty, but that was it at the moment. When he got outside, he sighed at the feeling of wind on his face. He walked to the railing, just enjoying looking at the ocean. Glad they were going home, that this nightmare would be over. But… would it really? Would these symptoms continue to happen? It would be dangerous for them. To be weak like this out in the New World. He gripped the railing tightly, gloved hands causing it to splinter slightly.

Someone walked up behind them and Sabo turned to see Thatch. "Not now, please, Thatch. Just… not now," Sabo said, his voice tired, though he didn't want to sleep again.

Thatch looked like a kicked puppy, but Sabo couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for him. He just wasn't in the mood. He wanted to mope by himself for a bit. "We wanted to tell you that you can use the infirmary to reset next time. Whenever that happens," he said, and then left before Sabo could respond. Usually, he would have said thank you, but they owed it to them to at least make them comfortable next time.

Even if he came to think they were good people, he would never take the blame off of them. He hurt his brothers badly. Sabo didn't care about himself, his brothers were in pain, and he was never there for them. Not a single time had he been able to help Ace, or be with Luffy when it got messy.

He was always the one that wasn't there for them. He also left them alone the first time, all those years ago. All those resets. All the fear, all the pain, all the stress. Why did this happen to them? Why couldn't it have been a one time thing? He leaned forward against the railing, wishing he had his hat. He also wished he had his pipe.

He sighed, putting his head in his arms. Aggie was still there, but leaving Sabo to his thoughts. When his legs started to get tired of standing, he stretched and then left to go back to his brothers, hoping they felt better still. Sabo wasn't in pain at the moment, so he hoped the same for his brothers.

When the two Spades returned to their room, Ace was sweating in his bed. Luffy put a wet washcloth on his forehead. "Sabo, Ace has a temperature," Luffy said sadly. It was good that the oldest wasn't bleeding. He could definitely fight a fever, though it was a bit strange because of his fruit.

He opened his eyes, looking exhausted. "Sabo, read me a story," he said in a tired voice. Sabo smiled. It was something he had Sabo do when he was stressed. It didn't matter if it was out of a book or just made up by him. Luffy liked it, too, and snuggled up with Ace while Sabo sat across from him. Some of the Spades were not in the room, out doing other things. Jojo was probably still cooking off her stress.

The blonde didn't have and didn't need a book as he told his brothers the story that popped into his head. Ace and Luffy didn't fall asleep, but looked relaxed. Ace didn't look to be in discomfort anymore, he was just still a bit sweaty.

"Thatch came to me when I was outside. They're offering us to use the infirmary beds for our next reset, whenever that is," the blonde explained.

Ace was unimpressed. Luffy couldn't figure out what to feel. On one hand, that was nice of them, but on the other, wasn't it their fault? It only started getting really bad when they were stressed. It peaked the day before, and they reset when they definitely weren't supposed to. "Are we sick?" he asked suddenly.

Ace muttered, "Aren't we always? Who else resets like we do? I doubt many, if any." Sabo nodded in agreement. Luffy pouted.

"Well, most people don't come back alive, right? Aren't we lucky, then?" Luffy asked, the optimist in the room.

Ace nodded. "We are lucky, we got a second chance. But this isn't lucky. Going through painful and traumatizing experiences biweekly. But, if it's the only thing keeping us alive, then I guess it's not so bad. I mean, it's bad, but we just have to deal with it I guess." Sabo looked at the little porthole.

"Well, hopefully we'll be back to normal soon. Or at least, a less painful normal," the blonde said in a faint voice. "But I'm worried. We can't fight like this. How will we protect our crew? If we're suffering from asthma, or nosebleeds, or awful cramps, then aren't we weakened considerably?"

Ace buried his head in the pillow and groaned. "Stupid Whitebeards. Messed everything up." Luffy frowned sadly.

"I thought I liked Thatch before this. But then we reset too soon and it was scary and now we're all weird and getting sick like we never have before," Luffy said. "It's scary."

"Yeah, Lu. It is," Sabo agreed, laying down on his bed. Things had been going great for them! They'd gotten their first bounty, recognition, and were living their life-long dream. It was cruel that it was all ended just on the whim of someone they didn't even know. How were you a decent person when you force them to join you? That's just as bad as normal pirates. These ones acted like they were family oriented and it just made him wonder how much of them were forced there. How many had only accepted this life because of pressure.

If they had asked, and not taken, the brothers would have had a conversation with them. They would have declined to join, but it would have been easy.

"Hey, please join us."

"No thank you."

"Please."

"We like our lives. We don't want to work under someone else."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure, thank you."

And things could have continued on their course. But instead, the yonko crew thought they were better than small time pirates, and decided they liked the brothers (without knowing a thing about them) and so they were theirs to keep. Big timers can't imagine anyone wouldn't want to join them.

They weren't meant to be underlings. Never had and never would be. They were captains, Luffy their first mate, since he had put his brothers before his dream after losing them both. Now his dream was to sail with his beloved brothers. Even his dream was taken away.

They could only hope that, once they were back home, things would go back to normal. Jojo came in, a cart wheeling in front of her, which was overloaded with food. Ace looked at it and felt sick. There was no way he could eat all of that now. Sabo looked just as averse. "What? You got a problem?" Jojo asked.

Luffy inhaled the food. "Ache and Shabo don't feel gud," he said, stuffing everything into his mouth. Jojo pushed his face away and his grabby hands were swatted.

"Save some for them, Luffy. Just because they don't feel good doesn't mean you can eat all of their food." Luffy pouted at her and crossed his arms, facing away. Ace chuckled and Sabo laughed as well. The mood was lightened just barely, and Luffy's pout changed to a smile at hearing his brothers both laugh.

-x-

The next day, the three felt much better. They were happy to not be in pain, and spent their time outside. They'd spent so much inside that the sky and breeze were a necessity. They were at the back railing, Luffy sitting on the railing with his legs hanging over the side. His brothers forced him to wrap a couple fingers around the railing, so he had his pointer and middle fingers tied in a tight knot if he'd be caught if he fell. He wouldn't, though. But he did it, not wanting to worry his precious brothers.

The day was good, and they thought that maybe things were looking up. Going back to normal. _Their_ normal, most people didn't have their situation. They went to bed looking forward to another pain free day, another day closer to the PoS. Their beloved ship who must be lonely all by herself. When they got back, they'd show her love and care. Their safe space was waiting for their return. And they _would_ return.

Things went downhill rapidly the next day. It started out great. Jojo made them berry pancakes with glazed banana "mush" (as Luffy named it), and they ate before anyone else had arrived. The Spades ate with them, some joking around with one another. The mood was lighter, as they could practically feel themselves getting back home, even if it would take a couple more weeks, going by how long it took to leave it.

Thatch was talking with Luffy, Ace stuffing his face contently. Luffy was telling Thatch about when he went fishing once and caught a human body. Thatch didn't find it very funny, but Luffy thought it was hilarious. "And then, and then, the shirt ripped off, right? And guess what! A sea king came up and ate him!"

Ace laughed. "Way to be morbid, Lu. Look, you freaked him out." Luffy looked back at the chef, and giggled. "Oops."

Sabo bonked his head affectionately. The Spades were feeling happy and light, that maybe the worst was behind them. Since they had only just reset a few days ago, if they were back to normal, they'd have two weeks of reprieve. They didn't think they were going to reset that day. After all, the day before they were showing symptoms but it didn't happen.

It wouldn't make sense for them to reset _now_ where they felt perfectly fine.

But, Sabo felt the pain in his stomach, a feeling he knew well. "Guys, infirmary, now," Sabo said sternly. Ace and Luffy realized, and Ace put his head in his hands.

"Not again, please not again," he begged. Sabo's shirt started to dot with blood.

"Take us to the infirmary now!" Sabo bellowed, and Jojo picked Luffy up, Deuce taking Sabo and Thatch frantically took Ace. Ace was crying, not wanting to go through it again. Blood started to dribble out of his nose. He continued to cry, not wanting to go through the pain. Thatch was shaking, but they made it to the infirmary just before Ace coughed blood all over the chef. He coughed it over his chest.

They were all set on the beds, and Sabo was trying to stay alive, be with his brothers. But he always went first. And he did, with Thatch holding onto his hand, not knowing what to do. The nurses had run in, having heard about it but not seen it.

As blood seeped out of Ace's face, he decided not to fight, even as he sobbed. He didn't want to prolong it any longer than necessary. Plus, when he fought it, it scared Luffy. He was breathing in gasps of air as he writhed, trying to get air to his lungs. He knew it was pointless, but it was his body's natural instinct.

Ace threw up blood all over his chest, seeing Sabo laying lifeless and limp. The tears stopped, and Ace resigned to the fact he was resetting, and just wanted it to come faster. To be over with. He closed his eyes, wishing for it to be over. He faded away, still hearing Luffy's attempts to live.

Thatch was freaking out far back while Deuce held Luffy's hand, telling him things would be okay, and soon he'd be in a nice comfy bed, having good dreams. Then Luffy died, too, and Deuce, for the umpteenth time, closed his eyes for him. Luffy was always the one to fight against it the most. That's why he never closed his eyes, and never resigned to it. No matter how many times it happened, he always tried to get that breath in.

One of the nurses had thrown up in a bucket from the sight of Ace's face. Thatch was crying, and Deuce walked over and patted his back. His hand wasn't bloody this time, so he didn't get any blood on Thatch's clothes. He had wiped his face, which had been dotted with blood.

"C-Can I help you clean them up? I want to do anything to help," the chef asked. Deuce asked if he was sure. "I'm sure. I want to be useful."

"You can go get us some rags and water. We're going to wipe down Ace first," Deuce said, kindly. He was very concerned. The brothers had been perfectly happy and healthy. There had been no signs of a reset. Waking up was going to be ugly. Ace would probably start screaming, Luffy crying and Sabo acting indifferent.

Thatch, unsurprisingly, had a hard time. He worked on Ace's body while Deuce got the blood off of his face and head. He had some water and opened Ace's eyes to drip it in to help the blood get out. When Ace was dead he didn't blink, so it was easy to do.

Jojo worked on Sabo, cleaning his abdomen and mouth. He'd had a lot of blood in his mouth this time. Deuce sometimes felt they downplayed Sabo's experience because his was always quick, and he was always first to go. It didn't mean he wasn't just as traumatized as the other two.

Tami, one of the nurses, came and got a new pillow for Ace. They tucked the three in, and then rolled the beds close to one another, and put their hands together. They would like this, waking up close and touching in some way.


	10. The Good And The Bad

**OtakuPie: Let's imagine I put one of those cool face emojis made out of letters and symbols cause I can't figure out how to get them lol.**

**Lei_Z: Man it would be even more terrible for them to switch deaths. I'm cruel, but not that cruel lol. I did a reset fic awhile ago, but it wasn't graphic like this one, so I took some of the ideas from that one and turned them bloody and disturbing, which was so fun!**

**Anime_Moonoo: Thank you! This chapter is sad for Thatch. He's so sweet and innocent. I think the fandom collectively thinks Thatch is a cinnamon bun because I've read very few WB fics where he was mean or awful.**

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**Getting closer to finishing a couple of my current stories! I have over 750,030 words worth of stories to post. -_- 7 fanfictions, four over 100,000 words with one 200,000 words. So, I won't be running out of things to post for awhile lol. Enjoy~**

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Thatch and Deuce were sitting at the wall, waiting. Thatch asked, "Deuce? Is it our fault?" in a small voice. The blue haired man didn't lie, so he wasn't going to start now.

"Most likely. They used to have a very strict, concrete reset calendar. Every two weeks, and the night before they'd feel pretty crappy. Since on this ship, it's out of whack and they were showing symptoms the other day. It hurt them. Even if they're not resetting, having any of the symptoms is scary and painful. Luffy needed to sleep with the ventilator the other night."

Thatch put his head in his hands. Deuce felt pity for him. He was the only one on the ship that any of them had come to like and possibly trust. But he still was part of the kidnapping, there was no way to beat around that bush.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

"I'm sure they'd appreciate that."

"But it doesn't change anything."

"No, it doesn't."

Since there had been no one in the galley when the Spades were eating, no one saw the whole thing. When the group was running to the infirmary, Ace sobbing and bleeding, they ran into people but Thatch shoved them out of the way and didn't answer any of their frantic questions. Thatch sighed, and asked, "Is there no way for us to help them?"

Deuce nodded. "Take us all home as fast as possible. They won't be joining your crew. No matter how much you ask or want it, even if you started being wonderful and nice. It was their dreams to be free, pirate captains. To sail on the sea, and do whatever the hell they wanted. Even if it meant resetting in dangerous places, or all being unconscious on a tiny pirate ship, it was to head towards their dream so they did it."

"And we ended all of that," Thatch said flatly. Deuce was glad he caught on and the man didn't need to be mean. Well, make him feel any worse than he'd already made him. The Spade nodded.

The other Spades were in various places in the room, many asleep. It was late now, but Deuce stayed up to make sure they were safe while so vulnerable.

"Yeah," he said simply.

-x-

Marco knocked on Thatch's bedroom door. "Thatch, it's lunch time. Your sous chefs were told you got sick. Come out already," the blonde said, not knowing why Thatch was acting this way. When Thatch opened the door, Marco was shocked at the state he was in. His hair was a mess, he had bags under his eyes and they were red, like he'd been crying.

"Thatch, what happened?" Marco asked in shock and concern. The chef looked away. But then he replied.

"He was crying that he didn't want it to happen again. He was bleeding out of his face, crying because he didn't want to go through it again. We made them this way. Such a huge mistake… they're in pain, scared and angry because we refused to take their feelings into account. There's no way to fix this ourselves.

"I don't want to talk anymore. I promise I'll be out by dinner," the chef said, sniffling before shutting the door and locking it.

Marco stood in the hallway, head down, consumed with guilt and shame.

-x-

"I've come to a decision!" Luffy announced in their bedroom, a few hours after they woke up. "We won't think about the resets or the symptoms. That's no way to live your life! We have to enjoy stuff, and not worry about what we can't control," the youngest said. All of the Spades looked at him in shock. "What?" he asked, not understanding why they were reacting the way they were.

Ace got up and hugged him. "Our baby boy grew up!" Luffy squirmed. Sabo laughed and joined the hug.

"I think that is a _great_ idea, Lu. We can't wallow in fear over what we can't control. We have to manage it. There's nothing we can do about it. You're right, we need to live full lives, even darkness will blanket it in a second," Sabo agreed, beaming. Ace let Luffy out of the hug, and Luffy grinned, happy to make his precious brothers happy.

The rest of the Spades felt energized as well. "Why don't we go play outside?" Sabo offered. "There's a lot of room to play tag."

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted, and he ran out of the room, his brothers following after him, bypassing curious pirates without a glance. The tag was violent. They tagged one another by some sort of punch or kick. Luffy cheated badly, stretching his arm to tag someone. But there were no rules, so it was allowed.

It was the most fun they'd had in a while, and it drew attention, especially when Luffy rested on the yardarm and throwing punches below to tag any unsuspecting Spades. When he fell off of it, he laughed and didn't scream when he bounced back up like a rubber ball. The tag resumed until they were all tired and hungry. They hadn't had breakfast yet.

When they entered the galley, they knew that the news had spread around. About their messy reset. Maybe it was Thatch, maybe it was a nurse, who knows? Ace, Luffy and Sabo, now on a mission to be positive, did not react badly to the stares. They went to the counter, got their food and left to go eat outside, since the weather was nice.

No one approached them, which was appreciated. They were fine if no Whitebeard pirate talked to them again. As long as they continued to take them back home. It was welcome that they would fix the PoS, but it was out of guilt probably.

Thatch came out once their plates were clean, all the food eaten, and he brought out some fountain drinks. He set down the tray in front of them. The group thanked him and took the drinks, not even asking what was in it. They knew Thatch wouldn't poison them.

Two days passed, and it felt like it was taking longer to go back. It wasn't, but it felt like it was. They yearned to be back home, and hoped PoS was still there, hadn't been ransacked of personal belongings. They knew nobody would find their stash of treasure. It was too well hidden.

For much of the time, the brothers napped. Their bodies were tired, so they did as it wished and went to sleep. The Spades didn't always sleep, but there was always someone in the room with them. Jojo was stress-cooking again, and the others were usually in the library. Deuce was usually the one that stayed with them, napping as well.

There were no symptoms at the moment, but it was made clear that it could change at a moment's notice.

-x-

A week later, they reset again. Since they'd been showing consistent signs all day, they were brought to the infirmary, the beds pressed together. This time, the Whitebeards did something to help, and sedated all three of them, heavily, so they wouldn't wake up while resetting. Ace and Sabo were laying on towels so the blood didn't stain the sheets like it had the last time.

And, staying asleep, had been a great idea. They'd tried it before, but never was comfortable with giving them too much. Marco had pointed out that they'd die regardless, so it didn't matter if they gave too much anesthesia. And that was true.

The Spades had been in there with them while the three who knew were there as well. Thatch was sitting against the wall, head in his hands. It was still their fault that this happened early, but at least it had been a couple days longer than the last time, and not as messy or upsetting. Marco was also looking upset, staring at the floor while Whitebeard just looked at the three of them.

Deuce could tell they were feeling guilt, and he wasn't upset about it. But, with the brothers being in a less stressed environment, and knowing they would be home again, safe and sound away from their kidnappers, their symptoms were ebbing away.

They smiled more, and as a result, so did the rest of the crew. Their pre-reset symptoms had not shown up on a day where they didn't reset. Deuce was sitting next to Luffy, brushing his fingers across Luffy's cold skin. Deuce was so happy that he didn't need to see Luffy die, didn't need to close his eyelids for him. Out of all of what happened, including Ace's graphic resets, Luffy's death was what really hit Deuce.

Seeing the youngest frantically try to continue to breathe even after his brothers were both gone broke his heart. How he had tears in his dead eyes still, his face still in the form of that devastated expression, his brows drawn together and miserable frown on. This time, he didn't need to see it. He didn't need to comfort him in his last moments as he sobbed and gasped.

Hopefully they could do this every time. It would be a load off of the whole crew. Sure, Ace still reset gruesomely, but it didn't involve the usual reaction. The fear and pain in his eyes. This was the preferable method, the best chance of giving them at least some break while they reset. Hopefully the stress ebbing away would return things back to how they were. If not, then the Spades didn't know what they'd do. Well, they'd support their captains, but it would be morally bad for all of them, the brothers most.

Many hours later, the three woke up, suddenly breathing like a switch was flipped. Many of the Spades were asleep, so Marco was the one to notice the breathing came back. He shook Deuce awake, who sat up immediately and walked to the bedside of the brothers.

"Hey, guys," the doctor said with a smile. "That reset was pretty good, huh?"

Luffy grinned and nodded. "It wasn't scary, I didn't have to see Ace bad," he said cheerfully. He sat up slowly, a bit dizzy but still able to function just fine. Ace and Sabo were agreeing, happy with how it had turned out. None of them had been in pain or awake when everything went south. And they didn't feel any side effects from the drugs, which was another plus.

Thatch got up and asked, "How do you guys feel?" He sounded nervous, and the crew thought he really wasn't in the right mental state to be around them when they reset because of his role in it. Not a direct role, but he was part of the bigger problem. And since he was a main leader on the ship, it made him even more responsible.

Sabo sighed and said, "I feel fine. I mean, exhausted like usual, but not in pain." Ace and Luffy nodded in agreement.

"Do you want food before you go to sleep?"

"Um… not me," Luffy said, and Ace and Sabo agreed. They just wanted to sleep. Even after a non-stressful reset, they were still bone dead tired. "Can we go back to the room?" The Spades nodded and handed Ace and Sabo their changes of shirts. They were clean of blood, and the teens were so grateful for that. When they used to wake up bloody, it had been horrid. Waking up clean made it almost like the nightmare hadn't happened, and anything to give that feeling was greatly appreciated.

The three headed back to their room and collapsed onto their beds, out like a light. Deuce stayed with them just to make sure there were no negative side effects regarding the anesthesia. He would always be there for them, no matter what. It was hard sometimes, but worth it because they meant a lot to Deuce. And the whole crew, but Deuce especially.

He did end up falling asleep as well, leaning against the wall. The room was full of soft snoring, and nothing happened that would be concerning.

-x-

"That went very successfully," Marco said happily once the Spades were out of hearing range. Whitebeard nodded in agreement. Thatch hadn't agreed, and was looking at the floor sadly. The infirmary was being cleaned up and sterilized. Even though they hadn't been coughing or making too much of a mess, blood had still gotten on the floor, the bed frame and the plastic over the beds.

"I'm glad they're leaving," Thatch said suddenly. The other two were surprised at this, since he usually liked the boys and their crew. "I don't think I could stomach knowing that someone on our crew, family, went through something like that and I can't do anything to stop it."

Marco sighed, agreeing while Pops closed his eyes sadly. "They were just not for this crew, I guess. I have never made a mistake like this, in wanting someone to join. And it was a terrible mistake, and I will regret it for the rest of my life."

His two sons said nothing to counter what he'd said, since they both felt the same. "I can't wait for them to leave so they can be happy again," Thatch said quietly, and the three left the infirmary. They would try to get back to the Spades' home as soon as possible.

-x-

"I have a headache," Sabo said while waiting at the bar counter for food to be served. They were all sitting there, Luffy with his jaw resting in his palm as he watched the food cook. He was hungry and wanted to go home. They all wanted to go home. The PoS was waiting for them, and had been confirmed that it was still there and had not been disturbed while they were gone for the couple months.

While they had been happier after knowing they were heading home, being there, surrounded by other people, was exhausting. Especially the brothers, who didn't know when they might reset at a moment's notice. It was scary, the uncertainty they now faced.

But now, they weren't happy anymore. They were impatient and mopey, just wanting this shitty "adventure" to come to an end. Multiple storms were setting them back, and it had been over a week since the last reset, and there had been no more symptoms. But that didn't mean they were comfortable or confident that things would fall back into place and their routine pattern would resume.

Every day, Sabo would go and ask when they ship would be back to that damn island, and they were always given "it depends on the weather". Stupid weather. Stupid Whitebeards. They wished it was over already. The only thing that they actually were glad of concerning the Whitebeards was that they'd help fix up their ship.

They were also in a bad mood since Thatch had started to avoid them. No one said a thing about it, but it really bothered Luffy, and was weighing heavily on his mind. That they were freaks and that's why the only nice guy on the ship didn't want to even talk to them anymore.

The three… hadn't felt like freaks in a long time. They were usually surrounded only by people who supported them. Here, there were only a handful of people who knew, but those who did looked at them nervously, or just averted their gaze every time he saw them.

Luffy felt betrayed, to be honest. And nothing the Spades or his brothers said made him feel any better. He just wanted to go home and try to put this whole nightmare behind him. Go back to being happy with his life, their adventures, their escapades.

"Is your stomach hurting?" Ace asked.

"No. It's just weird, I don't usually get headaches," Sabo replied.

Deuce said, "Don't look at every little pain or ache as signs of a reset. Sometimes people have shitty days." Sabo nodded, knowing that was true. It was just hard not to think of every little pain or discomfort leading to a reset. While the last one had been under anesthesia, it was only because the symptoms took a while to really get bad and trigger the reset.

If it happened suddenly, there was no way to be asleep during it. It would hit them and they would have to go through it again. Again and again with no stop in sight. No end in sight. Usually, that feeling was gone after the reset and they were awake and feeling great. But not on the Moby Dick.

The Moby Dick made them miserable.

Thatch served them the food and then left the room without saying a word. Luffy looked at his food angrily. He didn't want to eat it, so angry at Thatch for betraying them. What, when they were too much of a burden he just ditched them? Yes, Luffy wanted to go home and away from the Whitebeards, but he didn't want life there to get _even worse!_

"Fucking asshole," Luffy spat, unable to help himself. The Spades looked at him in shock. Luffy never swore, and rarely got angry.

"Lu? What's wrong?" Ace asked. Luffy pushed his plate away. "Oh, Thatch?" The youngest nodded. "Based on what Deuce has told us, he blames himself for everything that's happened while we're on here. He probably feels guilty, and wants to distance himself." Luffy still scowled. That didn't excuse that, he thought.

But his stomach grumbled and so he grudgingly ate, not wanting to enjoy it even though he did. When Thatch came back in later as people started to fill up, Luffy glared at him the whole time he cooked, and it was clear that the chef could feel his gaze, as he looked deeply uncomfortable and nearly burned himself.

"Luffy, let's go," Sabo said, gently pulling Luffy's elbow for him to follow, and the youngest did, still seething and feeling hurt. When they reached the bedroom, Luffy sat on the bed with his arms folded, scowling while looking more like a pout. An angry pout. They sighed, but had no way to make him feel better. They were still over a week away, at least. Fucking storms.

It was even worse when there was a marine attack (the boys stayed inside, no reason to help the Whitebeards in their fight) and the sail was damaged. The pirates had to spend much of the day fixing them and sewing up the tears. The Spades were growing more and more impatient, and now that Thatch had decided he didn't want to engage with them anymore, they hated every Whitebeard now.

Maybe it was unjustified to hate all of them, since some were nice to them, but they were all pieces in the big puzzle that tanked the brothers' already fucked up health issues. They wouldn't ever forgive them for that. If they'd complied, apologized and took the boys back, then maybe they could have been on friendly terms with the yonko crew.

But with how things ended up, they'd be happy to never see any of their faces again.

It was after Thatch showed his dismissal that Luffy was acting up differently than his brothers. He had started needing to use the inhaler that day, the day that Luffy felt betrayed and hurt when he knew he shouldn't. He just thought there was at least one good guy on the crew and now he wasn't anymore.

It got progressively worse as the day went on, and he had needed to sleep to try and turn his emotions off so he could breathe better. But this was also new. There were plenty of times one of the brothers were hurt or angry, but they didn't show any symptoms from that. We're they really that weak that simple emotions would do that to them?

And it didn't help as all three of them were now stressed and all of them were showing symptoms. They refused to leave the room, so Deuce and Jojo did for them. They walked to the galley and kitchen, seeing Thatch there working on dinner. They went to the bar counter and sat down. Thatch didn't acknowledge them.

"You're hurting Luffy's feelings by acting like this," Deuce said, getting straight to the point. Thatch bit his lip, but thankfully didn't ignore them. Jojo automatically went into the kitchen to help cook since Thatch was the only one doing all of the burners and prep.

"It's partly my fault they went through hell like this. I don't want to hurt them anymore," Thatch replied quietly. Deuce felt for him, knowing it had been hard on him especially out of all of the Whitebeards, but it was harming the brothers and that needed to be addressed.

Deuce sighed and said, "You ignoring them has made it worse. Luffy feels betrayed, and the negative feelings gave him symptoms. Now all three of them are stressed about possibly being affected by simple emotions, and they're all showing symptoms now. The best thing you can do for them while we are still trapped here is to be how you were. Friendly but not too pushy. Smile more, how you used to.

"I understand your feelings, but it's only for another week or so, right? Surely you can be friendly for a week," Deuce finished. His tone didn't sound negative or accusing, just simple and seriously. He didn't blame Thatch outwardly, but the man could make the connection that his actions were causing them trouble.

Thatch looked ashamed, and said he'd bring them dinner tonight. Since nobody still knew about their conditions, what happened to them now sporadically, they didn't go to busy places where anyone could see symptoms and freak out or pester them about it, making it worse.

When dinner was made, Thatch got a cart and filled it with food for the brothers and Spades to eat. Though some of the crew were in the galley to eat, most were with the boys. Jojo was taking over Thatch's job and serving the food out on the counter like a buffet table when anything was done cooking.

Deuce knocked on the door before opening wide for Thatch to roll the cart in. The brothers were surprised it was him and sat up. He got glares from Ace and Sabo for upsetting and hurting their little brother.

"I'm sorry my behavior upset you. I just don't want to cause you anymore health problems, and now I did…" Thatch said, sounding absolutely miserable. "It's not personal, I just want to try and make things right. Just to do something to atone for what we've done."

Ace and Sabo's face softened and Luffy looked down at his lap. "You'll help us by being how you used to be. You're the only good one on the crew. We're mad at all of you, but you're the nice one whose been understanding."

Thatch sniffled and said, "I promise I won't ignore you anymore. I have to get back, but I'll bring you some dessert later?" The brothers nodded, smiling despite Ace's nose stuffed with gauze and Sabo sleepy from pain pills and Luffy was wheezing just a bit, but not too bad all things considered.

After that, and after eating, their symptoms left a bit, only leaving them mildly achy. Nothing too bad, and nothing compared to their symptoms. Some aches were not a big deal. Thatch did bring them dessert, chocolate lava cake, which was just amazing. "Jojo, you gotta learn this recipe," Ace commanded as they all shared the large chocolate lava cake.

"You got it, captain," she said, very pleased with the dessert as well. It was a good night, and their symptoms were gone by bed time, and they slept just fine in no pain. It was nice to have a good night's sleep. It was refreshing.


	11. The Return

**OtakuPie: ╰(▔∀▔)╯Yay! Thank you, I never knew where to get these.**

**Anime_Moon00: I always thought it was weird how they recruited Ace by trapping them with him. Like, what if he ad stockholm syndrome and nobody knew? But they def deserve to be angry and leave.**

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**Sorry about the shorter chapter! One more chapter and this is over, same with one of my other stories, so two more will be posted in their stead. I have nine to choose from, so it might end up being another crossover while I edit all of the others, or a romance one. Haven't decided on which ones yet. I wrote a bunch of dragon ones, which one was posted a couple days ago. So, look forward to it! Enjoy~**

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Ace scowled at the floor of the infirmary, getting his knuckles treated from being cut against teeth. Sabo was frowning at him and Luffy looked worried. After all, Ace had just punched one of the commanders on the ship. That was a big no-no, and the Spades were all angry with him for it. That it could jeopardize their chances of getting home.

Marco came into the room, walking to Ace was a disapproving expression. Ace had been pulled away from the incident immediately and brought there to have his bloodied knuckles treated. His victim had been smart and had good reflexes, and coated his cheek in armament haki. So he wasn't injured, Ace was.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Marco asked, arms crossed. The Spades were not all in the room, but Deuce was the one with the most angry aura. They didn't know why Ace had attacked one of the commanders, but it was so lucky it did no damage, even if that pissed Ace off. He was seething before he sighed and glared at Marco.

"That asshole called us retarded," he snapped. "Because we're so 'slow' when we feel sick." Marco had the decency to look shocked. "So I punched him for it."

Luffy frowned and Sabo looked angry now, as well. Oh yeah, the Whitebeards were _so_ welcoming. They sure did want the brothers to stay. That's what Whitebeard had told them. Yeah, right. "I'm shocked. I never thought Kingdew would say that."

Ace snapped, "So you don't believe me?"

"No, I do. I'm just surprised and disappointed. I would usually make you do some sort of chore as a punishment, but I know it would exacerbate your symptoms. Just, don't attack one of us again. If they do something that really bothers you, just tell me or Pops."

Ace looked ashamed, but not because he felt guilt about punching the asshole - no, he deserved it - but because the three all felt like they were cripples there. They were weak, less than pirates. Ace turned on his side and said, "Whatever."

The Spades looked concerned and sad while Luffy and Sabo knew what hurt Ace in what Marco had just said. On the surface it was to be kind and considerate to their illness, but deeper, it was embarrassing and pitiful. Marco looked confused, but seemed to realize he was no longer welcome, and left the room.

They waited for a bit before leaving for the library, where they locked themselves in by putting a coat rack into the double doors' handles to keep anyone out. "I fucking hate this place," Ace snarled.

"We know, and feel the same way," Mihar said. "But, only a couple more days of them before we're back to the PoS. She'll be repaired for free, and we can try and put this mess behind us."

Ace growled, "If they made us pay for it, I would fucking snap and burn this ship down." Sabo shouted at him to _not_ say things like that. It was already bad enough that he punched someone, serious threats would not help them.

Jojo said, "Only a couple more days. Then we'll be back to the Piece of Shit. We have to last just a couple more days and then we're free. Just a little more patience." She sounded almost begging, and Ace felt guilty. His anger fizzled away and he hung his head.

"I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry for making things worse for us. I just couldn't control myself," Ace said sincerely. "I'll reign in my temper. I'll be different once we're free again. I won't be sour or grumpy or rude or brash. I'll go back to normal," he swore confidently.

Deuce sat down on the chair of the couch next to Ace. "We know this has been hard for you in ways that it wasn't for us." Ace nodded and wiped under his nose, but there was no blood, thankfully. "Once we're back home, things will go how they used to in many ways." He didn't outright say the brothers' conditions would return to how they had been for their lives since they were resurrected. They didn't know. It was scary.

"Hope so," Ace said simply. He laid on the couch, looking up at the tall ceiling or the two story room. This was the best place on the ship, the only thing they didn't have that they wanted. Everything else was unnecessary for such a small crew. And they weren't planning on expanding too much. A small group was best.

The room tilted suddenly and tossed Ace off of the couch and onto his brother, who made a grunt at the sudden weight. They all sighed, knowing this was a storm's doing. So, they held onto the furniture that was bolted to the floor for just these situations. Whenever the ship moved due to a storm or attack, if things weren't bolted down, a mess would be made, walls broken from heavy objects slamming into them.

Ace, Luffy and Sabo had made that mistake in the beginning, not anchoring down the more vulnerable things in their first little dingy boat that really only fit two people when they were three. So, the moment they furnished the PoS, they bolted everything to the ground or walls. They made the cupboards in the kitchen stick so they didn't send glassware crashing to the floor, breaking and making a mess.

The storm passed rather quickly, and they were all back to lounging around, not in a good mood. There was the sound of someone trying to open the door, and Luffy was the one to get up and see who it was, removing the "lock" to see Thatch, looking angry. Luffy worried he was in trouble, or maybe Thatch was mad at Ace for punching his brother.

But then a cart came into view. "This is all that's left of my baking spree. The rest all got knocked on the floor from the stupid storm." Luffy was glad he wasn't mad at them. He asked why Thatch was giving it to them specifically. "Because my brother was being a dick. I'm not gonna apologize for him, he deserved a punch, but I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't be happy regardless. So I made you some sweets," he explained in detail.

"Oh. Thank you," Luffy said and moved aside for Thatch to push the cart in. The Spades went to it and thanked Thatch, who just smiled and left the room, closing the door behind him which Luffy then put their lock in. The pirates ate the sweets, which were delicious, like usual. Thatch was probably the best thing about the ship since his food was so good.

The group ended up playing cards until dinner, which they didn't eat in the galley as glares were sent their way after Ace punched one of their commanders. They really weren't friendly with the pirates, so they probably wanted them gone just as much as they did. And it was lucky their captain was to order them to repair the PoS or they would probably all not do it out of dislike for the Spades.

It was lucky these pirates knew the concept of guilt and would repay them for everything they'd caused the brothers to go through. It was when they were returning the plate that they found Whitebeard in the galley, waiting for them. He nodded to them once and they got the message and sat across from Whitebeard at the table.

"We will be reaching the island with your ship tomorrow by sailing through the night," he said. It surprised the small crew, since sailing through the night was dangerous. "We want to avoid any more resets as best as we can. The only way to do that is to get you home."

Luffy smiled, looking at the table. He was glad these pirates could be nice, even if he still didn't like them besides Thatch. He'd miss Thatch, but they'd all agreed they would never see the Whitebeards again if they could help it.

"Thank you," Sabo said politely. "We appreciate it." Whitebeard gave him a strained smile. He looked so tired. Ace was staring at him with a blank face, not sure what to make of this. Perhaps him punching that asshole made them want to hurry. That would be great! Something good to come of his outburst.

Whitebeard sat up straighter and sighed. "Is there anything else we can do to make up for the worsening of your health issues? Anything you need?"

"Don't make contact with us again," Ace said simply. Whitebeard winced, looking regretful at the table. "And consider the feelings of anyone else you kidnap to try and make into family. Not everyone wants a big family or to be somebody's subordinate. Or to lose the life they already have."

The yonko captain sighed and nodded. "I will do that. This unfortunate situation has brought clarity to me. I can thank you for that while apologizing profusely. We will fix up your ship as soon as we can," he swore. The Spades thanked him, and left, knowing the conversation was over.

They headed back to their room, looking around at the place that had been their one safe space, but they still hated it. They were going home tomorrow! Then they could work to put this behind them. Luffy collapsed onto the bed and cried quietly into the pillow, so happy and relieved. "We're going home. I'm going to bed now!" he exclaimed, and changed on the spot into his pajamas and jumped under the covers. "Goodnight!"

The others changed quickly and got into bed as fast as possible as well, though it was hard for most to sleep. But, once they did sleep, they were all relaxed and had small smiles on, knowing the nightmare was nearly over, and then they could try and fix their lives and carry on how they had before. Hopefully they could put this whole incident behind them, never being reminded of these pirates again.

-x-

"Pops? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Marco asked quietly when he entered the library. It was one in the morning, and Pops was still in his day clothes, staring at a book that he clearly wasn't reading.

"I'm fine, son. I'll go to bed when I'm tired." But he looked exhausted. Marco assumed it had to do with the Spades. So he asked, and the captain closed his book with a sigh, setting it on the table beside the couch. "I asked them if we could do anything more for them after fixing up their beloved ship. Ace told me we could help them by never making contact with them again, and considering the feelings of anyone I wish to be part of our family."

Marco frowned and sat beside him. "This situation has changed many of our eyes on that factor. Not everyone will stay with us. We've just been lucky so far. But we need to take more things into consideration than just someone being stubborn." Whitebeard nodded in agreement.

"I will never not blame myself for causing them such pain."

Marco nodded, and said, "I think we'll all feel that way once they leave and we tell everyone why we are really taking them back."

"I agree."

-x-

"Piece of shit!" Luffy shouted as he jumped off of the side of the Moby Dick and landed in the sand, running to the beached ship, hugging the hull tightly. Ace and Sabo followed, the Spades running through the water with them, reaching their home for the first time in many months. Many stressful, scary months.

Some of them cried while Luffy pulled himself inside and into the tilted ship. The walls were the new floor, and he ran to his room, finding all of their things thrown around. He grabbed Sabo and Ace's hat, along with Sabo's pipe. He grinned, tears in his eyes, as he ran back outside.

"Ace, Sabo!" he cried from the doorway, and tossed down the hats and pipe. Ace and Sabo both beamed, putting their hats back on. "I don't think anything has been stolen!" he shouted happily. He dropped back down to the beach, and Jojo climbed her way back up the deck like an expert rock climber and went inside to get her swords that had been discarded by the Whitebeards after the fight.

Marco landed next to them, and spoke to Ace and Sabo as the captains. "Some of us are going to go into town to explain what's going on. The shipwrights will help work on your ship. We have supplies, but it will take a while. You'll most likely not be able to sleep on her tonight."

They frowned, but accepted the information. "Then we'll camp on the beach," Sabo said. Marco was clearly thinking of them staying on the ship again, and looked a bit surprised. "We won't be sleeping on your ship again."

"Fair enough. We can have a barbeque outside tonight so you won't have to get back on to eat, either," he replied. Luffy smiled, and Jojo dropped down with her swords crossed behind her back in their sheaths. She was grinning about having her weapons back. The others' whose weapons had been separated from them didn't go back onto the ship to get them, since there was no active threat. Jojo was just super attached to hers.

Ace and Sabo looked so much better with their hats, and it looked like color was brought back to them. Ace was grinning brightly while he looked at the PoS. Luffy smiled up at his brother, who seemed to shine again, now that they were free. Not quite home yet, but not in confinement. They were off of that damn ship that they never wanted to return to.

It was only an hour (which felt much longer to the Spades) until the pirates got to work on fixing the Piece of Spadile. They repaired the sides and then pushed it upright before getting to work fixing all of the fractures in the wood. None of the Spades helped other than carrying supplies to those working on their precious home.

Lunch passed and they continued to work. Piping had been damaged in the storm, so that took a bit to fix up. It was dinner time by the time they were ready to work on the mast. It had broken, so they needed it repaired. The pirates had to go into town and buy more wood, and when the town ended up not having enough for itself, trees were being taken down and turned into planks of wood.

It was a major undertaking that had to be stopped once it got dark. So close! They were _so close._ One more night and then they'd return to their home. Lots of things had been broken, but nothing too expensive or irreplaceable.

They camped out on the beach, sleeping on blankets under the stars, no covering over them. Being outside was so nice. Off of the ship, on land, away from all of the pirates. It was the first night in a while that they truly slept peacefully, without worry lancing their minds and making their necks stiff in the morning.


	12. The End of a Special Kind of Hell

**Giglio_nero: Binging stories makes them feel so short. :( Worst ever, especially when they leave you hanging!**

**OtakuPie: Finally. They definitely deserve it.**

**Anime_Moon00: I put them through so much, but at least I gave them a happy ending. In most ways!**

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**And here we are at the end. I'll be posting another story today, and finished ANOTHER one, putting me at 9 ones awaiting posting or editing. Not sure which one I'll post today, but I will post one. Anyways, I'm sad the story is over, but all good things must come to an end. Enjoy~**

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When they woke up, they headed to the PoS and ate what was left of the non perishables. The ship was mostly upright now, only tilted to the side just a bit, so they sat on the stools bolted to the floor, and ate the canned or boxed goods.

"We're home, guys," Sabo said happily.

They all grinned, and Jojo looked around her kitchen lovingly. "You know, having the Whitebeards as allies would have been nice. But after everything that happened, I don't want to hear their names again," she said simply.

Ace and Sabo nodded, and the others offered agreement as well. Luffy frowned. "I'm mad at them, I don't like them, but I do like Thatch." He looked down, not knowing what the point of his statement had been. Ace pat his head.

"Then at least some good experience came from this mess, right?" he said. The crew all grinned at him, and Sabo pat his back. "What?"

"Already, you're back," Deuce said with a grin. Ace looked confused before tears welled up in his eyes.

"Mmm," he said, sniffling. "I hated that. I hated being _that_ me. I worked so hard, took so long, for me to be better, not be mean or angry. And then I had to shove all that away to be an asshole again. It was horrible," Ace confessed. Luffy hugged him. "I'm sorry, Lu. I'm sorry you had to go through the resets in an unfamiliar and scary place."

Deuce said, "You all had to do that, Ace. Not just Luffy."

Sabo wiped under his nose and said, "Luffy goes through the worst. I wasn't awake during the messy scene. Luffy was the one to see everything till the end. And then to wake up someplace he couldn't have a proper routine to feel better."

Luffy shook his head. "It was bad for everyone, not just me." The other Spades agreed. It was hard for everyone. "And Deuce had it the hardest when we reset in the hallway and the Whitebeards were there. Don't make it seem like no one else suffered, too," he insisted. "I… did good. I didn't have many panic attacks."

Ace put his arm around Luffy's shoulders. "Well, now you don't need to hold in your feelings anymore. We'll be here to help you when you feel helpless or out of control. No one else will be butting into our situation that we don't want there. We're free again. To be us." Luffy nodded, and started to cry.

But they were happy tears. Tears of relief.

-x-

"Ready? Push!" Marco shouted and all of the pirates working pushed the PoS down a ramp made out of planks of wood and into the surf, further and further until the ship was deep enough in the water that it wasn't considered beached. Ace and Luffy were out of the count, unable to go further into water as pirates pushed as much as they could until the ship was buoyant.

Marco threw the anchor down and into the water and then flew back over. The Spades were cheering at the sight of their precious ship out on the water, repaired and ready to sail. The other pirates were happy as well, as the work on the broken ship had finished. It was evening the third day off of the Moby Dick, and everyone was tired.

The Spades piled into the rowboat and hurried their way to their home, climbing up the rope ladder and onto deck. It was done!

"Were fucking free!" Ace shouted, arms in the air. "Fuck yeah!" and he hopped in circles, chanting "we're free" with Luffy. Sabo was laughing and the others were as well, just feeling so light and happy. They could continue on their adventures, how they wanted. Not under some "father" that was just your boss. They wouldn't be surrounded by hoards of people, many often drunk. They were free, and that was what mattered most.

Marco flew over and landed on the deck before changing back into full human form. "Well, your ship is repaired and stocked, ready to go," he said cheerily. "On behalf of all of us, I apologize sincerely for all of the trouble and pain our actions have caused you. I know you can't forgive us, but we hope you get back to your normal.

"I know you don't want it, but if you're even in need of help, call us with this," Marco said, and pulled out a baby den den that was apparently linked to their ship. "If you never call us, it's not like we'll be upset, but just in case you feel the need to do so, call any time."

The Spades looked at the den den with conflicting feelings and expressions. They wanted nothing else to do with the Whitebeards. None moved until Sabo sighed and took it from Marco. "Thanks for fixing up the ship. We really appreciate it," the blonde said with a bow.

The others agreed, but didn't bow. "You're welcome. Hope to hear you cause more trouble for the marines in the paper. They were entertaining to read about," Marco said with a smile.

"They're probably wondering where the hell we disappeared to. Well, we'll be back in the spotlight soon enough. Goodbye, Marco," Sabo said, giving him a smile.

"Bye, guys. Be safe." They nodded, and Marco flew off of the ship and back to the shore. It was getting later out, but they wanted to sail for a while and then weigh anchor so they could have dinner and then sleep in their home. With the sea gently rocking the ship, lulling them to sleep.

"Should I have said goodbye to Thatch?" Luffy wondered as they sailed in the moonlight. Sabo frowned. They had decided to leave without a word to anyone but Marco. "Maybe I should have said goodbye."

The blonde brother and captain put his hand on Luffy's head. "I don't know. He wasn't there when the ship was done. He'd already tried to distance himself from us, maybe it was best we left without a goodbye. I think he might have been upset," Sabo replied honestly.

Luffy rested his chin on his hands on the railing. "I should have said goodbye," Luffy mumbled.

"Well, we do have the baby den den," Sabo said, though he didn't know how he felt about them using it right away. Right after leaving, calling might give the Whitebeards the wrong idea. That they wanted to stay in touch. Nobody but Luffy was upset without saying goodbye. Well, Jojo had done her own thing.

She'd baked a cookie and left a note for him in thanks for letting her use his kitchen. It was still leaving without a word, but it was a goodbye. "No, I can't do that. Damnit…" Luffy cursed. Sabo suggested he could send a letter. That they could mail it to him from the next island they stopped at.

They were taking a different route than the Whitebeards, effectively going their separate ways. Luffy grumbled that he would do that. "I'm going to bed. What about you and Ace?" the youngest said.

"I'm gonna stay out for a bit longer. Don't know about Ace. But, goodnight," Sabo said with a smile. Luffy returned it and hurried inside to sleep in his own bed. He changed into his pajamas, _his_ ones, not the ones they were given by the Whitebeards. He crawled under his blankets and drifted to sleep, glad to be home. So glad.

It was a couple hours later that Sabo and Ace went to bed, Jojo on watch. They changed and went in their own beds, giving relaxed smiles to one another before drifting to sleep. Hopefully things would go back to normal.

-x-

"Okay, relax," Aggie said as he injected the anesthesia to the brothers. They were showing signs of resetting three days after sailing off on their own. The three were scared something would happen while they were out. Their crew said they'd keep them safe, but they couldn't help but doubt that based on what had happened with the Whitebeards.

But they couldn't think about that anymore as they were put under, and didn't wake as Ace and Sabo started to bleed and Luffy started to gasp. Deuce was so happy he didn't need to keep them calm while they reset. He didn't need to close Luffy's dead eyes.

Deuce and Marco had gone into town to get the anesthesia in large amounts. It'd last for a couple resets, hopefully they weren't too frequent or they'd run out sooner. The brothers were on the floor on a blanket, not that it made them uncomfortable, and the Spades quickly got to work on cleaning them up. It didn't take long, and was less stressful as they hadn't seen the tragedy that was their reset when they were awake.

They didn't talk, all hoping the reset would come two weeks later and no sooner. There were no attacks while the brothers were out, but there was a storm, and Jojo tied them to their beds, which were bolted to the floor, as the ship rocked back and forth and the Spades took care of it, furling the sails and maneuvering the ship out of the storm easily.

Even though they felt like they hadn't done it in forever, it was easy to get back into and take care of their precious ship. If she got hurt, it would be an awful reminder of everything that had happened recently.

When the brothers woke up, it was slowly again. They were tired, and didn't even wait before falling back asleep, no longer tied to their beds after the storm had passed. It was easier to sleep after being sedated for the reset. Especially for Luffy.

When they woke up, they were each starving and went to the kitchen, Luffy stretching his arms to grab something from the fridge so Jojo couldn't get upset about them stepping foot in her kitchen. The others walked in after them, asking how they were. "Good. Sleeping through it is a blessing," Ace replied as he ate the chicken wings Jojo had made ahead of time so they had something to eat after waking up.

They were all glad the three's reset was painless. "Well, now we get to see when our next reset is," Ace sighed.

No one replied.

They were surprised later that day when they sensed a ship coming close to them and hurried to the side of the ship to see if it was an enemy, pirates or marines. But it wasn't an enemy, but the Red Force. Luffy's face turned closed off, still hurt that Shanks had pretty much abandoned them when they needed his help. And look what happened because he didn't want to come.

The youngest turned and walked inside, slamming the entrance door shut loudly. Sabo and Ace sighed, sharing a sad look. It had really hurt Luffy that Shanks didn't even try to help in any way. Didn't try to save them or advise them on how to get away. Surely he could have done that, at least.

The Spades furled the sails and dropped anchor. It wouldn't make much sense to try and run from them. Their ship was bigger and would no doubt catch up to them easily. Shanks put the plank down and hurried to the PoS. Those on deck looked at him with disapproving expressions, arms crossed.

"Hey, Shanks," Sabo said politely, though his voice wasn't warm at all. Shanks frowned deeply, and looked around, asking where Luffy was. "Inside." His expression fell further.

"I'm sorry I was unable to help. I tried convincing Marco to let you guys go, but they didn't for many weeks. I'm sorry, I wish I could have helped, but I can't demand Whitebeard release you without causing problems. So, I'm sorry if it seemed like I didn't care," the red haired captain said, sounding sincere.

"Things went to hell on that ship," Ace said coldly. Shanks' shoulders slumped more.

"I know. Whitebeard called me about it. I wish they had let you go with your first reset, but those idiots are stubborn and truly wanted to keep you," Shanks replied.

"Yeah, we get that. Fuckers refused to let us go even after they saw us die bloody deaths right in front of them. They fucked everything up," Ace snapped. While he had liked Shanks before, he couldn't get that hurt and betrayed expression Luffy wore out of his mind. Sabo felt the same. Shanks asked if he could talk to Luffy.

Deuce said, "I'll go get him," and went inside to fetch the youngest. The blue haired man found Luffy in the galley on the couch, staring at the wall with an angry face on. "Shanks wants to talk to you. He seems sorry."

Luffy said nothing for a minute. "I don't want to see him." Luffy felt hurt inside still. If Shanks had saved them from the beginning, things wouldn't have gotten so out of control it could have ended earlier, and he and his brothers wouldn't have had to suffer like they did. Deuce sighed and sat on the couch next to him.

"Do you think you can forgive him? Put all of this in the past? Don't we want to move on from the whole thing?" Luffy frowned deeper, his gaze falling to the floor. "I know what he did wasn't fair to you or your brothers, but at least let him explain his side of the story. If you don't believe him after listening, then you can stomp back inside and ignore him."

Luffy huffed and finally agreed to go back out on deck, even though his face was hard and angry. He left the cabin and stood in front of Shanks with a blank face, and it seemed to hurt the captain, seeing Luffy look at him like that when just a couple weeks ago he had been so happy to see his old friend.

"Hey, Luffy," he said awkwardly. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you guys when you needed it. I know it doesn't change the nightmare you three went through on Whitebeard's ship, but I do feel so guilty I couldn't help you. I would have if it were any other ship that wasn't a fellow yonko," he explained. "I'm truly sorry and feel deep guilt and regret. I understand if you can't forgive me, but I wanted you to know this."

Luffy averted his gaze, arms crossed, as he tried to think of what to reply. "I don't trust you like I did before." Shanks winced. "But I forgive you." The redhead gave a sad smile, and thanked him. The Spades said nothing, just watching the awkward conversation sadly.

Shanks didn't stay long like he had the last visit, and told Luffy to call him again if he was ever in need of help other than Whitebeard kidnapping them. And that if they got caught by another yonko, that he'd come to the rescue. "Thanks, Shanks," Sabo said, and the smallest yonko left.

Once he was gone, Ace turned to Luffy and asked if he was okay. "Yeah. I'm fine. I don't want to talk about it." The others nodded, knowing that Luffy had been very hurt when Shanks didn't help one bit. It made him sad and angry to think about, even if Shanks had apologized in person.

"Why don't we go inside to eat dinner?" Jojo suggested, and the small crew left to go inside and eat.

-x-

"What day is it?" Ace asked, feeling absolutely ill. The three all woke up feeling like shit, and had a feeling they would reset some time that day. Ace had lost count of when the last reset had happened. It had been a busy week, fighting off marines and storms often. It made the brothers worry about their crew and ship once they were out of action, but being back on the PoS had alleviated much of the stress that had triggered irregular and random resets on Whitebeard's ship.

Sabo looked at the calendar. "September 16th," he groaned. Luffy coughed and pointed out that it had been twelve days since the last reset. Not quite back to normal, but it was incredibly good news. They hoped that they had gone back to normal once they were home, safe with their crew and their lives were given back to them. They were free.

Ace smiled, and wiped the blood from under his nose. "Almost back to normal. Let's go to the infirmary and get sedated. I feel like it'll come soon." Sabo agreed that he felt close to the start of the reset as well, and the three knocked on Deuce's door, since it was very early morning and he might not be up yet.

"Yeah?" he asked before seeing the blood on Ace's face. "C'mon, infirmary time." The three ill teens headed to the infirmary and were promptly sedated without hesitation. Deuce stayed there as they reset maybe 15 minutes after being sedated. It was much easier like this _, so_ much easier.

He cleaned them up before anyone else entered the room, who was Jojo bringing in some breakfast for Deuce. She knew based on the fact that none of the three had hurried to breakfast and that Deuce was missing as well. "Been almost two weeks. Hope things stay steady like this," Jojo commented.

"Me too. I think that things might return to normal, but we shouldn't get our hopes up too high yet," Deuce replied, the chef agreeing before leaving to cook the others breakfast. Deuce had already cleaned the brothers up, and now tucked them in under blankets. They were back on the beds, no longer on the floor.

During that day, when the three were out of action, the rest of the crew were easily able to take care of some rookies going after them as the government had been paying close attention to the Spades once they roared back into action, destroying marine ships like no tomorrow. Their enthusiasm was back in full now that they could do whatever the _hell they wanted._

They could do what they wanted and were not trapped under the rule of someone else. And they were enjoying that thoroughly. The rookies were angry that Ace, Sabo and Luffy weren't there to fight, but even without Ace's powers, a home made molotov was easy to throw onto the base of the mast of the other ship while the Spades kept the pirates from putting it out by destroying their forces.

The captainless-group only left once the fire had spread too far from the enemy crew to put out. It was satisfying to sail past the burning ship. Even if they got the fire out, they were stranded as the sails had burnt. When the three woke up the next day and after they fell back to normal sleep, they were angry that they'd missed what sounded like a fun fight.

But they felt just fine, like how they used to. "Bet a hundred berries you reset in thirteen days," Saber said at breakfast.

"That's a weird thing to bet on, but I'll take it. I bet a hundred berries we'll reset in fifteen days," Ace said, scarfing down his bacon.

"I'll bet fourteen days!" Luffy said happily. He didn't have panic attacks anymore after being sedated through the reset. Things might be better now than they were before they got kidnapped, but they gave no credit to anything the Whitebeards did.

The crew didn't speak of them or that time, and had the baby den den connected to theirs in a locked drawer that was dusty as they never had a reason to open it. Luffy did send a thank you letter to Thatch, but had asked for no return letter. They were free and didn't want to think about that horrible time.

It might not have been worse than their original deaths, but it had been the worst thing to happen to them since they woke up and crawled out of their graves so many years ago. They had hope things would return to a new normal. They looked forward to their future and how much havoc they'd wreak in the New World.

Life was good, and hopefully it'll stay that way.


End file.
